United Capital left its biggest buy for last.
The RIA acquirer scooped up Payne Wealth Partners, an independent RIA based in Evansville, Indiana, with $530 million in assets under management and a team of 13 employees. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Amid a highly competitive
“It all has to do with what advisors are looking to accomplish for their stakeholders,” says Matt Brinker, head of acquisitions at Capital United. “As profitability continues to be a struggle and the complexity of the business continues to accelerate, we’re going to strategically partner with the right firms.”
Untied Capital had a healthy appetite in the past 12 months. Long a leading acquirer of smaller RIAs, the firm snapped up
Firms thinking about scale usually come to “an interesting inflection point,” Brinker says. “Do they like the status quo and operating as more of a lifestyle firm,” Brinker says, “or do they want to focus on growth and scale and enterprise value? Firms that fit into the latter category are looking for strategic partners to fill in some of the gaps.”
United Capital pierced the $20 billion in client assets threshold by gobbling companies with a combined $8.18 billion this year, according to the firm.
Tools like
Payne Wealth Management founder Taylor Payne tried out the tools to see how clients might benefit. He and his wife were surprised with what they learned about each other’s financial priorities, he says. “As professional advising folks you think we would know,” Payne says, “but until you have a process in front of you, it can be pretty tough.”
