Allworth Financial, the Folsom, Calif.-based registered investment advisor with about $19 billion in assets under advisement, has acquired Silicon Valley Wealth Advisors, an RIA in San Jose, Calif. with $376 million in client assets, and Hall Private Wealth Advisors, a San Diego-based firm with $291 million in assets. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
The two acquisitions are Allworth’s sixth and seventh deals of 2023, and give it 31 acquisitions since 2018. HPWA, led by founder Russell Hall, will be the firm’s first office in Southern California. SVWA is led by Managing Principal Tracy Lasecke.
Scott Hanson, vice chairman and founder of Allworth, said the deals are part of the firm’s strategy to increase its presence in California. These advisors sold to their business not as a retirement strategy, but as a way to shed some of the back-office tasks they’re tired of doing in order to focus on client service.
When Allworth acquires an RIA, those firms typically come under the Allworth brand, and the deals are structured as a combination of cash and equity. Owners will typically get about 20% to 30% in equity, and the rest in cash. Some 110 advisors currently own equity in the firm.
“When someone joins Allworth as part of our partnership program, our typical M&A transaction is a combination of cash for their business but also stock in Allworth, so they become equity owners in Allworth. And they’re partners in Allworth, so it aligns all our interests together,” Hanson said. “You would think that would be how most of the deals are done in the industry, but surprisingly there are quite a few that aren’t done that way.”
Allworth also made the decision about three months ago to require employees to return to working from offices at least three days a week, Hanson said. Some Allworth employees are permanently remote, so that mandate doesn’t apply to them. But for all those within commutable distance to an Allworth office, they must come in at least three days a week, but possibly more depending on client preferences.
“We think there’s some value to knowing your teammates,” Hanson said.
In addition, Allworth surveyed its own clients and found that about four-fifths of them prefer the option of meeting their advisors in-person.
“The majority of clients want to see their advisors in the office at least periodically,” Hanson said.
Hanson and his partner Pat McClain announced plans over the summer to step down from their roles as co-CEOs of Allworth “as part of a natural succession plan.” The firm hired John Bunch, a former Edelman Financial Engines executive, who took on the chief executive role Nov. 6. McClain still leads the firm’s mergers and partnerships division.