Arete Wealth, a Chicago-based broker/dealer and investment advisory firm, has recruited a "super branch" of 66 registered reps managing more than $2.5 billion in assets. It is the firm’s second major transaction in the past 18 months.
Fincadia Group, with five East Coast offices and a support staff, left National Securities Corp. after 18 years to join Arete Wealth's b/d and RIA businesses. With the new additions, Arete now manages $8.5 billion in assets through 318 registered representatives across 97 offices nationwide.
The Fincadia Group liftout follows Arete Wealth's January 2021 acquisition of Nashville, Tenn.–based Center Street Securities, which helped boost Arete Wealth's 2021 revenue by 83% to $82.7 million, up from $45.2 million the previous year, and established the firm as an industry leader in terms of revenue growth, according to the firm.
One of the reasons the principals of Fincadia Group were attracted to Arete Wealth is the firm's “distinctive business strategy—chiefly, its leading position in alternative investments,” according to Arete founder and CEO Joshua D. Rogers.
Arete added to its inventory of alternative products in November 2021 after reaching a two-year agreement with Masterworks to act as a co-managing b/d, underwriter and placement agent for all Masterworks' art investments offered for sale in primary offerings. The Fincadia Group team will have immediate access to all Masterworks investments as well as Arete's line of alternative products.
"Fincadia Group's focus on high net worth accredited investors is in perfect alignment with Arete Wealth's business model,” Rogers said in the announcement. “Further, the Fincadia team extends our reach into areas of the country with high concentrations of investors who are anxious to gain access to superior investment advice from Arete Wealth's first-rate financial advisors and to our broad portfolio of traditional and alternative investment products.”
The Fincadia Group's move to Arete Wealth became official on July 19, 2022. Financial terms for the liftout were not disclosed.