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The Ziegler Companies
Ziegler: a specialty investment bank formed in 1902, financing senior living, healthcare, and education through Dan Hermann-led tax-exempt bond...
The Ziegler Companies
The Ziegler Companies was founded in 1902 in Chicago, initially as a municipal bond underwriter, and has spent more than 120 years carving out a durable niche in mission-driven sectors. CEO Dan Hermann now oversees a firm that is among the most active underwriters of tax-exempt bond issues for nonprofit senior living communities, hospitals, and educational institutions in the United States. Ziegler operates three primary business lines: investment banking, capital markets, and proprietary investments. The investment banking division focuses on mergers and acquisitions advisory, debt structuring, and strategic consulting for nonprofit healthcare and senior living operators. In capital markets, Ziegler leads bond underwritings — public record shows the firm managed over $1.5 billion in senior living financings alone in 2023. The firm also deploys balance-sheet capital into direct private credit and real estate joint ventures, with confirmed exposure to continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing portfolios in the Midwest and Southeast. The firm employs roughly 150 professionals across offices in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco, and additional locations. Ziegler maintains a broker-dealer, Ziegler Investment Banking, and an asset management subsidiary — Ziegler Capital Management — which runs separately managed accounts and mutual funds across equity and fixed-income strategies. In January 2024, Ziegler closed a $158 million bond issuance for a senior living expansion in Maryland (per public record, 2024). Ziegler's structural differentiator is its exclusive focus on nonprofit, faith-based, and community-governed borrowers — a client base that large-scale investment banks typically underserve or avoid due to deal-size economics. By specializing in this segment since 1902, Ziegler has accumulated institutional knowledge of state-level Medicaid reimbursement regimes and IRS tax-exempt regulations that generalist competitors cannot replicate quickly. This regulatory and relationship moat makes the firm essential to an aging demographic wave it is uniquely positioned to finance.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1902
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
Chicago, IL, United States
Additional offices
Milwaukee, WI · New York, NY · San Francisco, CA
Principals
Dan Hermann
President & CEO
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is Ziegler's core business?
Ziegler is a specialty investment bank and asset manager that underwrites tax-exempt and taxable bonds for nonprofit senior living, healthcare, and education organizations. The firm also provides M&A advisory and private credit, and runs a separate asset management arm — Ziegler Capital Management — that manages equity and fixed-income strategies.
Who runs investment banking and capital markets at Ziegler?
Dan Hermann serves as President and CEO of The Ziegler Companies, overseeing all business lines including investment banking, capital markets, and asset management. Specific heads of banking verticals are not publicly enumerated in a single source as of the latest available record.
Which sectors does Ziegler finance?
Ziegler focuses on senior living and long-term care, nonprofit hospitals and health systems, and private education. The firm also selectively finances real estate projects tied to its core sectors, including continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing facilities. Tax-exempt municipal finance is the dominant instrument across all verticals.
Does Ziegler invest its own capital alongside client transactions?
Yes. Through its proprietary investments division, Ziegler deploys balance-sheet capital into private credit opportunities and real estate joint ventures, primarily within the senior living and healthcare real estate sectors. Specific portfolio names are not systematically disclosed.
How does Ziegler source deal flow?
Ziegler sources transactions through decades-long banking relationships with nonprofit boards, faith-based hospital systems, and state housing finance agencies. Its narrow sector focus means deal flow is largely relationship-driven and repeat in nature, rather than broadly marketed auctions.
Is Ziegler structured as a family office or a publicly traded firm?
Neither. Ziegler is a privately held, employee-owned specialty investment bank and asset manager. It is not structured as a family office, and it does not manage a single family's capital. The firm was historically run by the Ziegler family but is now broadly held by its partners.
What is Ziegler's relationship to its asset management subsidiary?
Ziegler Capital Management is a wholly owned subsidiary that operates separately managed accounts and mutual funds. It shares the Ziegler brand and distribution infrastructure but maintains a distinct investment process and compliance framework from the investment banking business.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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