Former Escala Partners co-founders join LGT Crestone



LGT Crestone has made two senior hires to its Melbourne office to boost growth in its high-net-worth and family office services.
Steve Collins and Mason Allamby will join the firm as partners and investment advisers, and lead a team providing advice to high-net-worth families, family offices and not-for-profit organisations.
Collins and Allamby previously co-founded Sydney and Melbourne wealth management advisory firm Escala Partners in 2013 where they both worked as advisers, providing services to high-net-worth individuals and families, family offices and not-for-profit organisations.
Prior to founding Escala, both worked at UBS Wealth Management – Allamby for seven years as an investment adviser, and Collins for more than a decade as an executive director and investment adviser.
In 2019, Escala joined forces in a partnership with New York-based wealth manager Focus Financial Partners which took a partial stake in the firm.
Since then, several of the firm’s staff have moved over to LGT Crestone, including investment advisers Chris Quigley, Steven de Bolfo, and Amelia Kelaher who joined LGT Crestone from Escala last year. They will now work alongside Collins and Allamby.
Other Escala hires include Jonathan Vickers-Willis, Paul Sealey, Will Allen and Gabrielle Coles who are investment advisers and partners in Melbourne, and Matthew Gavshon who is a partner and investment adviser in Perth.
According to Michael Chisholm, LGT Crestone chief executive: “We are delighted to welcome Steve and Mason to our team. Their client-centric ethos and exceptional track record reflect LGT Crestone’s commitment to excellence in financial advisory, and align with our entrenched client-focused culture.
“With a deep understanding of the market and wealth of experience, Mason and Steve play a critical role in our work providing tailored financial advice and strategies to our valued clients,” Chisholm concluded.
Earlier this year, LGT Crestone unveiled a diversified alternatives fund in association with European alternatives investment specialist PG3 AG and alternative asset manager Longreach Alternatives.
The PG3 Longreach Alternative Strategies Fund offers access to a select group of idiosyncratic and traditionally hard-to-reach asset classes with low correlation to both traditional and private market investments.
In particular, the product’s multistrategy and multimanager exposure focuses on all three of PG3’s key investment areas: insurance finance, royalty finance and litigation finance. These strategies serve as risk and return drivers and effective portfolio diversifiers.
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