Miracle Mile Advisors, a Los Angeles-based registered investment advisor with $5.6 billion in assets, announced its first two transactions since taking on private equity partner Corsair Capital in late 2022.
The RIA has acquired Baltimore-based Caplan Financial Group, with $350 million in assets and about 175 clients. Founded in 1992 by President and CIO Mitch Caplan, the five-person firm provides comprehensive financial planning, including tax, estate, insurance and education planning, as well as asset management and consultation on international financial systems.
Miracle Mile also added Chicago-based Advisory Partners, a three-person team with about $250 million in client assets. The practice is led by Joel Kendall, who spent time at UBS, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley.
Bruce Milam, who was hired by the firm’s board of directors to serve as its first CEO in June, said the RIA plans to build around both practices in the Chicago and Mid-Atlantic markets.
Kendall will join an existing Chicago team and work from a new, consolidated office expected to open later this year. Caplan is establishing a physical presence in Baltimore and providing a local hub around which the firm can expand.
Miracle Mile also has its sights on the Pacific Northwest, where it opened a Seattle office last month.
Kendall and Caplan joined Miracle Mile under its equity ownership model extending Class A shares to acquired partners.
“One of our greatest strengths is we have a single class of equity for all shareholders,” Milam said. “That includes our private equity partner, and I think that’s really compelling as we go to market for these M&A deals.”
“What’s more, they offer a more robust platform for planning and investing than we would ever have been able to build on our own,” Caplan stated.
Milam is working to add specialty expertise and services, accomplished through external partnerships and a growing stable of in-house professionals, including an estate attorney who recently came on board.
Miracle Mile is also in conversations with some of its existing CPA partners to bring those services in-house while working to build out referral arrangements with others.
Founded by Managing Partner Brock Moseley in 2007, today Miracle Mile comprises nearly 70 employees, more than half of whom are advisors, overseeing close to 5,000 accounts for about 1,800 clients. The RIA reported a five-year annual growth rate of 35% in September.