Peapack-Gladstone Financial in Bedminster, New Jersey, has agreed to buy Princeton Portfolio Strategies Group, a wealth management firm in Princeton, New Jersey, with $550 million of assets under management.
The $6 billion-asset Peapack said in a press release Thursday that it expects to complete the acquisition in the third quarter. It did not disclose the price it paid.
The deal is expected to be immediately accretive to Peapack's earnings.
Princeton Portfolio Strategies Group’s eight-person team is expected to join Peapack Private, Peapack’s wealth management unit.
Peapack Private and Princeton Portfolio Strategies Group maintain offices in the same office park. That proximity paved the way for a closer relationship, John Babcock, Peapack Private’s president, said in the release.
“We were able to establish a quick and easy connection,” Babcock said.
The merger “will allow us to accelerate our growth in the highly desirable” Princeton market, Babcock added. Princeton’s median household income is about $138,000, compared to the national average of $68,000, according to the Census Bureau.
Thursday’s deal is the sixth involving a New Jersey-based wealth management firm that Peapack has announced since 2014. It’s also exploring expansion opportunities in
Peapack reported $9.4 billion of assets under management on March 31, up 7% from the end of 2020. First-quarter wealth management fees of $12.1 million were up 22% from a year earlier.
Wealth management fees made up roughly a quarter of Peapack’s $49.6 million of first-quarter revenue. The average is 5% for the banking industr, according to data compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
