Greg Fleming returns with Rockefeller-backed asset manager
Former Morgan Stanley executive launches new venture to advise ultra-rich clients
The former head of wealth management at Morgan Stanley – once in the frame to succeed James Gorman as the bank’s chief executive – is plotting a comeback on Wall Street, heading a new firm backed by the Rockefeller family.
Greg Fleming has agreed to team up with Rockefeller Financial Services to form Rockefeller Capital Management (RCM), according to an announcement from the parent company on Wednesday. Capital for the firm, which will span asset management and wealth management for rich and ultra-rich clients, as well as advice on their business interests, will come from the Rockefeller family and Viking Global Investors, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund that manages about $25bn.
Mr Fleming, who will serve as chief executive, will chip in with his own money, too. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
Within a few years, RCM will be “a formidable player”, Mr Fleming told the Financial Times. “We think the businesses are all fairly fragmented … and we can gain significant share. A lot of people want to work for a private independent firm, especially one with the brand of Rockefeller.”
The move marks a return to the front line of financial services for Mr Fleming, 54, who stepped down from Morgan Stanley last January after it became clear that Colm Kelleher, London-based head of the bank’s institutional services division, was the more obvious short-term successor to Mr Gorman, chief executive since 2010.
Mr Kelleher and Mr Fleming had been rivals to succeed Mr Gorman until October 2015, when Mr Fleming lost out in a rejig in which he was stripped of his role running the smaller investment management division. The effective elevation of Mr Kelleher, who at 60 is a year older than Mr Gorman, was seen as a sign that the longer-term successor would be drawn from a pool including Ted Pick, head of sales and trading, and Dan Simkowitz, who took over investment management from Mr Fleming.
Before joining Morgan Stanley in December 2009, Mr Fleming came close to the top of Merrill Lynch, serving as president and chief operating officer from June 2007 to early 2009. He left after Merrill’s takeover by Bank of America – a deal he helped engineer at the height of the financial crisis.
After leaving Morgan Stanley last year he taught at his alma mater, Yale Law School, and last August joined the board of Putnam Investments, the $166bn-in-assets money manager.
Rockefeller Financial Services was founded 135 years ago as the family office of John D Rockefeller, the oil baron. Its existing asset management business, Rockefeller & Co, based on the third floor of 10 Rockefeller Plaza, had about $10.9bn in assets under management at the end of June, plus another $5.3bn in “advised assets” for which it provides financial planning and tax preparation services.
Mr Fleming said that RCM’s backers plan to make “significant” additional capital investments over the next five years, led by Viking, to allow the firm to broaden its products and services.
He said he had several job offers during his hiatus, but opted for Rockefeller because “I was focused on something more entrepreneurial, something I could lead and grow. I spent a quarter-century in big public companies, I was very much looking for this kind of avenue this time.”