Cerity Partners, a New York-based registered investment advisor with over $144 billion in client assets, has taken a minority stake in Nasdaq Private Market, a secondary market trader of private company equity, along with gaining exclusive rights to advise the firm’s clients participating in tender offers.
Cerity, which has focused on private market investing for clients, makes the move as more companies in the U.S. are remaining private, with both the firms and their senior leaders sorting through how to manage equity stakes that may not have near-term liquidity events.
“This partnership is expected to provide NPM’s liquidity program clients (private companies and their executives and employees) access to a comprehensive liquidity and financial planning experience as they plan for and manage proceeds from liquidity events,” Cerity wrote in a statement via email. “It is also intended to benefit Cerity Partners’ ultra- and high-net-worth clients by providing access to an expanded scope of hard-to-source, high-growth private company investments.”
Cerity will also join other financial services firms in investing in Nasdaq Private Market. The New York-based secondary private markets trader was established by Nasdaq in 2013 but was spun off in 2021, with Nasdaq as an investor, followed by firms such as Bank of America, UBS and Wells Fargo.
As part of the partnership and investment, Cerity Partners Chief Growth Officer Michael Barry will join Nasdaq Private Market’s board of directors.
This year, Nasdaq Private Market liquidated nearly $15 billion in assets on behalf of private company equity holders, bringing the total execution since its founding to almost $70 billion in assets for over 200,000 employees and 775 companies.
The firm works with private companies that have become household names, including Fanatics, OpenAI and SpaceX, the last of which is exploring an initial public offering in 2026, according to reporting by Reuters.
In recent years, the number of public companies has declined, while more firms have launched and remained in the private sector, according to data providers such as Pitchbook. Firms such as Nasdaq Private Market, EquityZen, Forge Global and Carta have stepped in to create secondary markets for the equity issued by these companies. In addition, Cerity’s investment in Nasdaq Private Market marks the third recent tie-up between a wealth firm and a private market secondary specialist. In other deals, Morgan Stanley agreed to buy EquityZen and Charles Schwab Corp. agreed to buy Forge Global.
At last week’s RIA Edge Private Markets conference, some speakers made the case that offering private market investing not only adds a service for clients but may boost client retention and growth for RIAs, in turn helping to raise their valuation. In the meantime, some speakers noted that many financial advisors are hesitant to venture into the private markets space due to opacity and potential risk.
In its announcement, Cerity wrote that it will integrate with Nasdaq Private Market to offer both firms and their employees a “comprehensive liquidity and financial planning experience, while reducing the administrative burden on finance and HR teams that can arise around liquidity events.” In the meantime, its UHNW clients will get access to more “hard-to-source” private company investments.
“Liquidity events are incredibly rewarding, yet they often raise complex financial questions for employees,” Tom Callahan, CEO of Nasdaq Private Market, said in a statement. “By joining forces with Cerity Partners, we’re giving employees the personalized guidance at the moments they need it most, while helping companies deliver a more seamless and supportive liquidity experience.”
Cerity was founded in 2009 and has been building scale partly via acquisitions. It is majority-owned by PE firm Genstar Capital, with Lightyear Capital also holding a stake, and management and employees holding the rest of the firm’s equity.
