Updated:
Ziegler
Ziegler is a privately held investment bank headquartered in Chicago, with regional and branch offices across the U.S.
Ziegler
Ziegler is a privately held investment bank headquartered in Chicago, with regional and branch offices across the U.S. The firm sold its wealth management arm in 2018 and now concentrates solely on institutional capital markets, proprietary investments, and strategic advisory. Its client base spans hospitals and health systems, senior living and post-acute care operators, higher education institutions, charter schools, and general municipal entities. The strategy blends fee-generating investment banking with proprietary principal investments. Ziegler's capital markets group provides equity and fixed income sales and trading, while the Ziegler Financing Corporation delivers FHA/HUD mortgage lending for healthcare and senior living properties. Advisory mandates cover mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and restructuring for healthcare services and healthcare information technology companies. Recent transaction activity includes a May 2026 $30.75 million financing for Londonderry Village in Pennsylvania and public credit surveillance research on continuing care retirement communities. Ziegler does not publicly disclose firm-wide assets under management or total deployment figures. Its leadership bench and headcount are not published. The firm maintains securities licenses and operates as a broker-dealer, but no named principals are identified on its public materials aside from client testimonials, which feature finance and legal executives from institutions such as Adventist Health, Intrinsic Schools, and PhySynergy. In April 2025, Ziegler published a special credit surveillance report on CCRC defaults, underscoring its embedded research function within healthcare finance. The structural differentiator is the combination of a proprietary investment portfolio with a broker-dealer platform focused exclusively on mission-driven sectors — healthcare, senior living, and education — where municipal and FHA-insured paper create distinct origination advantages. The absence of a retail wealth business following the 2018 divestiture sharpens the firm's identity as an institutional-only capital provider.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
Chicago, IL, United States
Principals
Mike Smith
General Counsel, Harmony Living (client testimonial)
Dr. Tim Adams
Founder of PhySynergy (client testimonial)
Matt Shaw
CFO, Intrinsic Schools (client testimonial)
Jack Wagner
CFO, Adventist Health (client testimonial)
Leroy Geter
CEO, Pledgerville (client testimonial)
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What does Ziegler's proprietary investments business actually do?
Ziegler deploys its own capital alongside client mandates, though the firm does not publicly detail the composition or scale of its proprietary book. This co-investment posture distinguishes it from pure advisory or agency broker-dealers, aligning its own balance sheet with the healthcare, senior living, and education transactions it underwrites. Specific portfolio holdings and dollar amounts are not disclosed.
How did the 2018 sale of the wealth management business change Ziegler?
The divestiture removed the firm's retail-facing financial advisory unit, per a disclosure on its contact page. Ziegler now operates exclusively as an institutional investment bank, capital markets, and proprietary investments firm. The change concentrated resources on healthcare, senior living, education, and municipal finance sectors where it had historically built origination and underwriting depth.
Which healthcare subsectors does Ziegler cover?
Ziegler's healthcare investment banking group advises hospitals and health systems, healthcare services and outsourcing companies, healthcare information technology firms, and post-acute care providers. Its Ziegler Financing Corporation affiliate provides FHA/HUD-insured mortgage lending to senior living and care properties. The firm also publishes sector-specific credit research on continuing care retirement communities.
Does Ziegler raise third-party funds or manage outside LP capital?
Publicly available information does not indicate that Ziegler sponsors blind-pool funds or manages limited partner capital. The firm describes its activity as investment banking, capital markets, and proprietary investments, suggesting it deploys its own balance sheet rather than aggregating LP commitments in a traditional fund structure.
What is Ziegler's presence in the municipal and education sectors?
Ziegler serves higher education institutions, charter schools, and private K-12 operators with financing and advisory services. Its general municipal and structured finance practice covers a range of public-purpose borrowers. Client testimonials on the firm's website cite a charter school financing where Ziegler provided underwriting, coordination, and negotiation support.
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.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: