Bluespring Wealth Partners, the RIA acquisition arm of Kestra Financial, has bought an ownership stake in $800 million AUM Beacon Financial Group, the company announced Tuesday. Kestra, an independent broker/dealer and corporate RIA, launched Bluespring in July, in an effort to acquire experienced RIAs and wealth management firms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bluespring focuses on acquiring firms with succession issues; its only rule being that it must take at least a 51% stake and it only looks at larger companies with at least $1 million in EBITDA.
This is Bluespring's third acquisition in the last 30 days. In late August, it announced it acquired Hickory Asset Management, with $153 million in client assets, and Believeland, with $400 million in AUM.
Beacon, which has offices in Dallas and Austin, Tex., was founded by Steve Engro in 1995.
“Steve’s strong leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and desire to establish a sound succession strategy for his firm were evident in our first meeting,” Bluespring President Stuart Silverman said in a statement. “We appreciate his initiative to plan for the future and look forward to working together to kick-start Beacon Financial Group’s next chapter.”
“At this time in our firm’s history, it’s critical to fully align with a strategic partner who can ensure we’re well-positioned for the years to come,” Engro said.
Beacon provides full financial planning, fee-based wealth management and insurance services.
Kestra has $92 billion in AUM and supports over 2,000 independent investment advisors. It was recapitalized in February when private equity firm Warburg Pincus became the majority stakeholder in the firm. That deal was rumored to be in the $700 million to $800 million range.