Mergers & Moves: Advisor and firm deals this week in wealth management

April 9, 2022 3:31 PM

Scroll down to see the team pickups, mergers and acquisitions that happened this week in wealth management.

LPL picked up three employee advisor teams for Linsco arm in March

In two of three moves that saw three teams join Linsco by LPL Financial in March with more than $800 million in combined client assets, former Morgan Stanley and UBS practices left their wirehouses for LPL’s employee arm. Financial advisors Lisa Tesar and client services associate Julie Regan of Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Tesar Group Investment & Financial Planning left Morgan Stanley, where the team had managed $260 million in client assets. At Washington, D.C.-based Beltway Wealth Management, financial advisor Gary Edmonds and business management associate Andy Chang dropped UBS, where they managed $360 million in client assets. “We strategically made this move to gain more independence and ownership of our practice and, in turn, be more strongly positioned to offer additional services to our clients,” Edmonds said in a statement. “We were especially drawn to the Linsco model, which allows us to do everything we could do at a large regional firm, but comes with individualized support and resources,” Tesar said in a statement.

Dynasty supports ex-Merrill team’s RIA launch in fourth move of the year

Financial advisors Jerry Davidse and Brook Hart, as well as Vice President of Operations Jackie Ellison and Vice President of Client Experience Kelley Casper launched Philadelphia-based Presilium Private Wealth on the Dynasty Financial Partners RIA platform. The team managed $350 million in client assets with its prior firm, Merrill Lynch, and it’s the fourth practice to go independent in 2022 with Dynasty’s support. “The COVID-19 pandemic gave us the chance to step back and think about our experience over the past 20 years and how we will serve clients over the next 20,” Davidse said in a statement. “We have amazing clients and feel that we can now serve them even better."

Asset manager Callodine Group to acquire 279-employee firm

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Manning & Napier, a Fairport, New York-based wealth and asset manager with 279 employees, will go private and merge into a new parent under an agreement to be acquired by Boston-based Callodine Group. East Asset Management, the family office of Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terrence and Kim Pegula, is a strategic investor in Callodine. The proposed acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter, pending shareholder approval and other conditions, at a price of $12.85 per share of Manning & Napier’s common stock. “Manning & Napier represents a best-in-class investment management firm that we are thrilled to welcome to the Callodine Group platform,” CEO James Morrow said in a statement. “Growing up in Rochester, N.Y. and having previously been a shareholder of the company after its IPO, we know this is a business with a long and proud tradition of delivering outstanding results for clients. We look forward to partnering with the current management team to continue to uphold that standard of excellence.”

Mercer acquires $130M RIA Convergent

Private equity-backed RIA consolidator Mercer Advisors acquired Convergent Wealth Management, a Chesterfield, Missouri-based firm with about $130 million in client assets. Advisors John P. Stobbs and Jeannie Seabaugh lead the incoming team. “As John and I investigated our succession planning options, key to our decision was finding a partner firm that anchored on these same principles and had a long operating history of providing the highest level of financial care to their clients,” Seabaugh said in a statement. “After meeting with David Barton, Mercer Advisors’ vice chairman who leads mergers and acquisitions for Mercer Advisors, we knew we had found that right partner that shared our mission, vision and values.”

Black Tech Nation Ventures backs mobile app helping people build wealth

In a seed-round investment of $600,000, technology-focused venture firm Black Tech Nation Ventures is backing Hive Wealth by Impart Media. The mobile app helps connect people with financial peers to share insights on wealth, investing and any money issues with the ability to create financial goals, track spending and become an expert. “BTN Ventures and Hive Wealth share a common mission of building generational wealth,” Yvette Butler, founder of Hive Wealth, said in a statement. “We are excited to become a part of their ecosystem and look forward to working with them to bring our common missions to reality.”

Ameriprise recruits $483M bank team from LPL

American National Bank of Texas, an independent bank with 30 locations and an investment program spanning six financial advisors managing $483 million in client assets, left LPL Financial’s bank channel for the Ameriprise Financial Institutions Group. “Our new partnership with Ameriprise Financial is founded on our shared commitment of putting our clients — and their needs — first,” ANBTX Director of Wealth Management Kathy Howe said in a statement. “Beyond the values we share, we selected Ameriprise Financial to support our investment program because of its powerful capabilities, which we believe will enhance our ability to help our clients reach the next step in their financial journeys.”

Sanctuary adds Miami-based team departing Morgan Stanley

Luis Fuentes, Rosario Hondermann and Chris Fuentes of Miami-based Fuentes Hondermann Wealth Management dropped Morgan Stanley to go independent with Sanctuary Wealth. The team managed $250 million in client assets with their prior firm and about 70% of its clients are international and from Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico. “When we decided to declare our independence, we looked around the industry at both large platforms and boutique firms, but none of them aligned with our needs the way Sanctuary Wealth does,” Fuentes said in a statement. “Sanctuary gives us the freedom and flexibility to run our business in a way that provides the maximum benefit to our clients backed with the support and resources of a much larger organization.”

RIA acquires $270M fee-only practice after entering into strategic partnership

Following a growth investment from Wealth Partners Capital Group and HGGC in the fourth quarter, Birmingham, Alabama-based WA Asset Management acquired Clark Financial Advisors. The practice, which is based in the same city, will add $270 million in assets under management to the more than $4 billion at WA under Clark’s founding advisor, M. Brooks Clark. The acquiring firm is “widely recognized in the Southeast, and we have been fortunate to know their team for many years,” Clark said in a statement. “As we considered the future of our firm, we sought to align with a partner who is visible in the community and shares our commitment to superior client service.”

Homrich Berg to acquire fellow Atlanta-area RIA with $1.5B in client assets

Financial advisors Warren Wick, William Cohen, Jennifer Storey, Eric Toole and Brandon Downs of Oakbridge Partners will join fellow Atlanta-based RIA Homrich Berg under an acquisition expected to close by the end of next month. The incoming 48-year-old firm has $1.5 billion in client assets. “We hit a critical point in our growth and had to make an important decision to either add infrastructure — including management, investment solutions and technology — or to partner with a firm with those capabilities,” Cohen said in a statement. “We have great respect for what our friends down the road at HB have built, and are excited to join the firm and be part of the firm’s growth trajectory in the Southeast.”

Creative Planning acquires two more firms

Private equity-backed RIA consolidator Creative Planning has acquired two more practices with more than $2.3 billion in combined clients assets. In one of the deals, Peter Mallouk’s firm purchased Phoenix-based Hatton Consulting, a 23-year-old firm led by advisors Tim and Jim Hatton and managing $440 million in client assets. In the other, Creative Planning bought New Orleans-based Resource Management, a 48-year-old firm under CEO Randy Waesche with $1.9 billion in client assets. “We can now seamlessly tie investment management, estate planning, tax and insurance strategies together so each client can be confident that all elements of their financial plan are working optimally within a fiduciary standard of care,” Tim Hatton said in a statement. “Creative Planning has built something special, and I am envious of Peter’s talents and success over the past few years especially,” Waesche said in a statement. “We believe our team will make great partners with Creative Planning and we are thrilled to be joining a company populated by talented and ethical people.”

$8B RIA recapitalizes with private investment firm The Vistria Group

The Mather Group, a fee-only RIA with more than $8 billion in assets under management across 11 offices, reached a deal with middle-market private equity firm The Vistria Group that will recapitalize the RIA for additional growth under a strategic partnership between two Chicago-based firms. “Our business is built on trust and relationships. The Vistria Group shares the same business values, investment philosophy and commitment to integrity, transparency and high-touch service that has been the core foundation of TMG,” Mather Group CEO Chris Behrens said in a statement. “This partnership supports our vision of being a national boutique while continuing to enhance the client experience.”

Merit Financial Advisors acquires two practices with $381M in client assets

Merit Financial Advisors, a hybrid RIA backed by Wealth Partners Capital Group and strategic investors led by HGGC, has acquired two Denver-area practices that will expand the firm’s assets by a combined $381 million. Peter Tedstrom of Tedstrom Wealth Advisors and Kate Redden of I.M. Wealth each have decades of experience. “This transition will allow our team to centralize select operations, deliver economies of scale and provide more time for my team to personally connect with clients and prospects,” Tedstrom said in a statement. Redden’s practice had been part of the RIA previously, but it will fold into Merit’s ownership through the deal. “Merit has been a supportive partner of I.M. Wealth Care, and we were eager to formalize our partnership,” she said in a statement. “The firm has been essential to our growth, and our expanded relationship also means we’ll be offering enhanced services for our clients.”