Raymond James, Janney Montgomery Scott, plus investing in Black and Latino communities, Hightower’s new offices and more

November 12, 2021 1:55 PM

New York Life invested $30 million in a Community Development Financial Institution fund focused on advancing minority affordable housing developers. Altruist released a podcast with its former CEO that delves into his three decades with the asset management company. Hightower has added several offices in Manhattan and SoHo. As always, advisors are on the move, and there has been significant M&A activity. Scroll through to find what you might have missed this week in financial planning news.

Financial advisors Francine Payson and Tarek Salhab dropped Merrill Lynch after more than 15 years each with the wirehouse to go to Raymond James & Associates. The Fort Myers, Florida-based team, which also includes client service associates Gail Siebenmorgen and Lynda Demarco, managed about $215 million in client assets with its prior firm. Payson, a 43-year industry veteran who spent the past three decades with Merrill Lynch, and Salhab, a 21-year broker, called the new practice Riverview Wealth Partners of Raymond James. “Our top priority throughout this process has been finding the right partner to help support our clients’ needs,” Payson said in a statement. “I’m pleased to have found that in Raymond James with its long history of putting clients first and a company culture that aligns well with our own."

Miracle Mile Advisors, a Los Angeles-based RIA, has topped $3 billion in client assets after acquiring Castle Asset Management. The incoming practice has a prior brokerage affiliation with Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments and a team of four employees managing $375 million in client assets. Financial advisor John Caffrey leads the Hauppauge, New York-based practice. “We believe our views and strategies align perfectly with Miracle Mile, and we are excited to come together to build new relationships and serve our current and future clients under the Miracle Mile banner,” Caffrey said in a statement.

Financial advisor John Ryan of Cincinnati-based Ryan Generational Capital Advisors left Raymond James & Associates for Janney Montgomery Scott. With a team including account executive Adam Butler, the 30-year industry veteran’s prior practice managed more than $350 million in client assets. The team reports to Branch Manager Jeffrey Mossbarger. “We look forward to supporting them and helping their clients achieve their goals as we continue our commitment to growth in the area,” Mossbarger said in a statement. So far in 2021, Janney has recruited 50 advisors with $9.3 billion in client assets.

Midsize independent broker-dealer Arkadios Capital has added a dozen advisors managing $1.25 billion in client assets through the acquisition of a Petaluma, California-based brokerage firm called Investment Architects and its RIA, Resource Investment Architects. Founder David Haddock served as the chief of market surveillance for the state securities regulator of Missouri and a compliance officer in addition to launching the firm in 1984. With the deal, Arkadios has established its first locations in California, Nevada and Washington. “Arkadios Capital offers a similar culture to our own, which we felt was very important for our affiliated advisors,” Haddock said in a statement. “This is an excellent opportunity to continue to grow while minimizing disruption to our businesses.”

A new special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, called Everest Consolidator Acquisition Corporation is seeking to raise $150 million through an offering of 15 million shares and the sponsorship of an affiliate of a private equity firm,

according

to an S-1 filing last month with the SEC. Everest CEO Adam Dooley is also the CEO of the sponsor’s parent, Belay International Corporation, as well as the former head of wealth management for MetLife’s European unit. Chief Operating Officer Jacqueline Shoback is the founder of venture capital firm 1414 Ventures and the former CEO of emerging businesses and client experience at Boston Private Bank & Trust. The firm will focus on RIA acquisitions, the offering document shows. “Our team of founders includes financial services and wealth management sector executives and investors well-positioned to draw upon a vast network to identify opportunities that have the potential to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders,” the document states. “Their deal-sourcing network, ranging from industry executives, private owners, private equity funds and investment bankers, will enable us to evaluate a large number of potential opportunities within the wealth management sector.”

Private equity-backed RIA consolidator Hightower’s New York footprint will expand early next year through a move from its current single office location in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood to two other offices in that area and a third in the SoHo district. The company signed leases for an 11,000-square-foot office in the Chrysler Building (the interior of the building’s lobby is pictured on the left), a 30,000-square-foot outpost at 300 Madison Avenue and a 6,000-square-foot location on West 22nd Street. “As we return to meeting and working together, it was important for us to create office space that is comfortable and welcoming, with room for growth,” Hightower CEO Bob Oros said in a statement. “Culture is paramount at Hightower, and expanding our footprint in New York will enable us to foster collaboration and fuel the next steps in our firm’s expansion.”

Hedge fund-backed family office firm Rockefeller Capital Management recruited a former BB&T Securities and Truist team that managed $1.5 billion in client assets with its prior firm. The Atlantic Group, which has offices in Palm Beach, Florida, and Bethesda, Maryland, consists of a team of eight led by managing directors Peter Clarke, Drew Karr and Neva Hagopian. They report to Michael Outlaw, the national field director for the Rockefeller Global Family Office. “The Atlantic Group’s ability to deeply and strategically manage wealth for high net worth families, individuals and institutions aligns well with our current suite of offerings,” Outlaw said in a statement. “We’re especially pleased that this accomplished team of professionals will now be positioned to deliver the Rockefeller Experience to current and future clients in the Palm Beach area.” Rockefeller spans $85 billion in client assets and 800 employees.

Stifel Independent Advisors picked up its second incoming practice since rebranding from Century Securities Associates earlier this year. Landrum, South Carolina-based Freehold Wealth Management consists of President Cynthia Boyle, Managing Director John Boyle and Managing Partner Mary Steel. The team managed $139 million in client assets with its prior firm, the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. The Boyles are spouses and Steel is their daughter. “As a family-owned and -operated practice, we value our relationship with our clients and model our business to direct as much attention toward servicing those relationships as possible,” Steel said in a statement. “We chose Stifel as they prioritize client relationships and service.”

Startup RIA custodian Altruist’s podcast series, The Human Advisor, recorded a new upcoming

episode

with former Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb sharing the lessons from his three decades with the pioneering asset management giant. McNabb and financial advisor Dasarte Yarnway, who is Altruist’s head of community, as well as the custodian’s founder, Jason Wenk, shared advice for independent planners just starting out in the business. The episode goes live next week.

Fee-only RIA consolidator Savant Wealth Management has reached an agreement to acquire Madison, Wisconsin-based Filbrandt Wealth Management, which has $1.8 billion in assets under advisement. It’s Savant’s third deal of the year and the largest ever by Savant, with a scheduled closing date of Nov. 30. CEO Michael Filbrandt and President Patricia Filbrandt lead the RIA, which serves administrators and faculty of the University of Wisconsin and their families exclusively. “In searching for a partner to continue our legacy of service to the university community, we were impressed by Savant’s growth strategy and approach to M&A activity,” Patricia Filbrandt said in a statement. Last month, Savant received a minority investment from private equity firm Kelso & Co., and the firm spans 18 offices with nearly $12 billion in assets under management.

Insurer New York Life made an investment of $30 million in a Community Development Financial Institution fund focusing on the advancement of affordable housing developers who are Black, Latino or members of other minority groups. The 15-year bond issued to the Enterprise Community Loan Fund will finance Enterprise Community Partners’ loans to nonprofit organizations and some for-profit partners building homes for low- and moderate-income people and supporting small businesses, schools and other community facilities. The investment is part of New York Life’s $1 billion pledge over the next three years in donations, grants and other capital resources aimed at closing the racial wealth gap. “With New York Life’s support, ECLF will continue to narrow the capital gap attributable to longstanding racial disparities and provide equitable access to the capital resources required to gain power, autonomy and impact for these developers and the communities in which they work,” Enterprise Community Loan Fund President Lori Chatman said in a statement.

Former HSBC financial advisor and 24-year wirehouse and bank-channel veteran Scott Howell left the firm to go independent with LPL Financial and Gladstone Wealth Partners. Howell will launch a new office of Gladstone, the practice’s hybrid RIA and office of supervisory jurisdiction, in Summit, New Jersey. The practice managed $400 million in client assets with HSBC. “I’ve spent years researching and analyzing the advisory industry,” Howell said in a statement. “I believe that the independent model is the best-case scenario for my clients. It’s always been my end game.”

Cetera Financial Group added financial advisors managing $2.4 billion in client assets through its recruiting activities in the third quarter, putting it on pace to top $10 billion for the year. The teams coming to the independent broker-dealer network in 2021 include a new investment program launched by New York and New Jersey-based Kearny Bank, which has overall customer assets of $7.2 billion. The bank’s wealth program will use Cetera Financial Institutions as its brokerage. “We are pleased to welcome Kearny Bank to the CFI Community,” LeAnn Rummel, head of Cetera Financial Institutions, said in a statement. "We are excited to complement their bank program and help them advance their growth and digital strategy serving their customers."

A family office team formerly managing $1.5 billion in client assets with GenSpring SunTrust Private Wealth left the firm to open a new Palm Beach, Florida-based office of an RIA called Homrich Berg. The team includes 15-year veteran advisors Kevin Campbell and Amy Owen, as well as client service operations employee Sara Whipple. “We are thrilled to not only offer clients continued access to great technology and wealth planning resources, but also expand their ability to participate in areas such as private alternative investments,” Campbell said in a statement. “We love Homrich Berg’s entrepreneurial mindset as it continues to evolve while growing in scale.” Atlanta-based Homrich Berg manages more than $10 billion in assets from 2,000 client households nationwide.

Allworth Financial, a Sacramento, California-based independent RIA and brokerage with more than $14 billion in client assets, agreed to acquire its second practice located in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area in the past two weeks. RG Capital, which President Kelly Richards launched in Scottsdale in 2005, works with about 300 clients. RG managed more than $176 million in client assets with its prior firm, Cetera Financial Group. “At a certain point, you realize there are only so many hours in a day, and that you can’t scale the firm the way you’d like to on your own,” Richards said in a statement. “Joining forces with Allworth not only creates more opportunity for my staff, but it also means we will soon be able to offer additional financial services such as estate and tax planning to our clients.”

Independent RIA and brokerage Sanctuary Wealth recruited its 18th incoming team of the year with the addition of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Famiglia Wealth. The incoming practice left Morgan Stanley, where Famiglia managed about $700 million in client assets. Sanctuary’s first office in Michigan consists of co-founders Robert Alati, Jason Geisz and Beth Silver, along with wealth advisor Adam Biswanger and three support staff members. Alati is a 60-year industry veteran and Silver, his daughter, is a second-generation planner. Geisz spent a decade with UBS before joining Morgan Stanley for another 10 years. “We were courted by every major firm in the industry while we did our due diligence. But after considering all the options and which one was the best solution for our clients, Sanctuary was the obvious choice,” Geisz said in a statement.

Raymond James & Associates added two Georgia-based teams from Truist and Merrill Lynch to its respective branches in Dalton and Fayetteville. In Dalton, former Truist brokers Joel Theis and Zach Theis managed $189 million in client assets with their prior firm. In Fayetteville, financial advisors Joshua Pruitt, Harry Pence and Demetrios Protopapadakis, previously managed $119 million in client assets with Merrill Lynch. Three out of the five incoming advisors with combined client assets above $300 million are part of the firm’s Advisor Mastery Program offering training to young and career-changing advisors.