Top Recommended UHNW Wealth Managers

We set this up in 2009 after one of the greatest financial meltdowns of our lives: there was suddenly a real shift,’ says Edward Lawson Johnston of the firm he founded 10 years ago, which until recently was called LJ Partnership. With assets under management in excess of $14 billion, it’s safe to say he seized the moment at just the right time. ‘People were asking themselves difficult questions about how their money was managed, and real estate grew up as being of particular interest.’ Alvarium is an independent global boutique that pitches itself as a ‘dynamic investment ecosystem’. Lawson Johnston sits on the firm’s global operational board, merchant banking and direct investment divisions with a responsibility for overseeing the strategy of the group. ‘Our international infrastructure provides local insights which, through one investment committee, shape overall macroeconomic opinion,’ the firm says. In a crowded and complex investment world, it aims to cut though the noise by connecting clients to an international network. Partners and shareholders are also clients of the firm because of their co-investment model. ‘The fact that our partners and shareholders directly co-invest alongside our clients is a real point of differentiation in our industry,’ says Lawson Johnston. ‘Not many advisory businesses can do that.’