Integrity Marketing Group, a Dallas-based provider of life and health insurance, wealth management and retirement planning solutions, announced it has acquired Gladstone Wealth Partners, an LPL-affiliated hybrid registered investment advisor out of Boca Raton, Fla., with more than $13 billion in assets under management.
As part of the acquisition, Gladstone Chairman Robert Hudson and CEO Richard Frick will become managing partners at Integrity. Financial terms of the acquisition, which is scheduled to close upon regulatory approval, were not disclosed.
Hudson founded Gladstone in 2012 to “fill critical gaps in service and support he had personally encountered as an independent financial advisor,” according to the announcement. Today, the hybrid wealth-management firm offers an open architecture, multi-custodial RIA platform and access to a full-service broker/dealer. Over the past three years, it has grown AUM at a compound annual rate of 108%.
“Gladstone's wealth management expertise combined with Integrity's strength in marketing, technology and product distribution will give rise to far-reaching new solutions," Integrity co-founder and CEO Bryan W. Adams said in a statement.
Through the Integrity platform, Gladstone will have access to up-to-date technologies, including proprietary resources such as lead generation systems, real-time quoting, enrollment and other software solutions. Gladstone advisors will also be able to take advantage of Integrity's business infrastructure offerings, including legal and compliance solutions and a comprehensive advertising and marketing platform.
"Through this partnership, we can deliver enhanced technology and a full suite of products and services to our advisors in order to meet the spectrum of clients' needs now and well into the future,” said Hudson. “Integrity and Gladstone are building a life, health and wealth offering that is unique in the market. I believe we will fundamentally transform many core aspects of financial planning, and I can't wait to get started."
Gladstone employees also will be given an opportunity to own equity through Integrity’s Employee Ownership Plan.
"Through this transaction, many of our existing Gladstone advisors will become equity owners in Integrity, which will enable them to participate in the future appreciation of our combined business,” said Frick. “I have never been more excited about the future of our business, our partners, our advisors and their clients than I am today."
"Though we started in different market segments, the business models and missions of Gladstone and Integrity are very similar,” said Adams. "This partnership will be a powerful catalyst for incredible collaboration among agents and advisors from both organizations as we work to address comprehensive life, health and wealth protection.”
Ardea Partners provided financial advice to Gladstone throughout the transaction.
In addition to providing insurance and solutions for wealth management and retirement planning, Integrity, which is backed by private equity firms Harvest Partners, HGGC and Silver Lake, also develops annuity products with carrier partners and markets them through its nationwide distribution network. Integrity's nearly 6,000 employees work with approximately 500,000 agents and advisors serving more than 11 million clients annually. In 2022, Integrity expects to help carriers place almost $20 billion in new sales and oversee more than $30 billion of assets under management and advisement through its RIA and broker/dealer platforms.