Cetera Financial Group has made a minority investment in Wilde Wealth Management, one of the firm’s largest offices of supervisory jurisdiction affiliated with Cetera Advisors, with more than $2.8 billion in assets under administration. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based OSJ has more than 42 advisors across nine locations in the Southwest.
The firm was founded by CEO and Managing Principal Trevor Wilde, and affiliated with Cetera in 2007.
"As a core pillar of our Wealth Hub model and offerings, we are constantly identifying opportunities to strategically partner with advisor practices to best support their business success through all stages," said Jeffrey Buchheister, CFO at Genstar Capital-backed Cetera, in a statement. "Through this partnership, we look forward to even closer collaboration with Wilde Wealth in achieving shared goals and growing together to benefit the Wilde Wealth team, advisors and their clients."
The deal was made as part of Cetera’s suite of succession offerings, which includes advisor-to-advisor support, business continuity and full or partial sale options. The firm has done more than 12 such transactions in the past year.
Other independent broker/dealers have similar succession planning programs.
LPL launched a 'liquidity and succession' program a couple years ago, where it will buy 100% of an advisor’s practice from a principal or principals who are generally expected to remain for about three years.
Commonwealth recently expanded its Entrepreneurial Capital program, where it will take up to 40% of a firm’s earnings in exchange for capital. The firm is also considering taking majority stakes in Commonwealth advisor firms, although that’s not an offering yet.
Last summer, Cetera Holdings, the holding company of Cetera Financial Group, announced its first acquisition of a pure RIA, The Retirement Planning Group. That move came less than a month after the company hired former Fidelity Investments senior executive Mike Durbin as its CEO, signaling an intention to move more seriously into the space.
In December, Cetera's private equity owner Genstar Capital reinvested fresh capital into the broker/dealer network from two of its newest funds, Fund XI and Fund X.
Cetera now serves more than 12,000 advisors, representing more than $475 billion in assets under administration and $190 billion in AUM, as of Dec. 20, 2023.