Sanctuary Wealth has previously been known for its ability to attract breakaway advisors from the wirehouses, but it announced its first acquisition of an RIA Tuesday with the addition of Austin, Texas-based NorthView Asset Management, led by Richard Williams, with $280 million in assets under management.
The acquisition follows the addition of numerous breakaway advisors this year, including an $800 million breakaway team from Merrill Lynch who joined Sanctuary in June, as well as another Merrill Lynch breakaway team with $270 million in AUM who joined Sanctuary earlier that month. Sanctuary Wealth’s managed assets total $9 billion overall, $3 billion of which has been added since June via breakaway additions and the NorthView acquisition. According to Sanctuary Wealth Founder and CEO Jim Dickson, NorthView proved to be an “obvious choice” for the firm’s first RIA acquisition.
“We are delivering on our business plan of going to market with a barbell approach to working with advisors; launching breakaways and being the ultimate destination for existing RIAs. How we execute in M&A will be different than other participants in this space,” Dickson said. “Our whole model is predicated on quality, growth-oriented firms, that see the value of a strategic partner. The profile of advisor does not change for us whether you’re a breakaway advisor or an existing RIA.”
Dickson, who previously spent time as a divisional leader at Merrill Lynch, has overseen an expansion of Sanctuary Wealth’s management team in order to help attract more breakaway advisors. In June, Amit Dogra, the former CEO of Third Seven Advisors, was brought on as Sanctuary’s chief experience officer and spoke to WealthManagement.com about the effect he thought a firm like Sanctuary could have as they attract brokers from the wirehouses.
“Let’s be honest, the wirehouses are not melting away, but is this a pin prick or the tip of the spear?” he said. “We think we’re the tip of the spear.”
