Captrust Financial Advisors added another $770 million in assets with its ninth and final acquisition of 2023, a ten-person team located in an affluent northern Houston suburb called The Woodlands.
Previously operating as Engrave Wealth Partners, the team offers investment management and financial planning—with a focus on providing retirement and tax planning for corporate professionals and small business owners in the oil and gas industry—as well as tax preparation and insurance, estate and philanthropic planning.
At the end of March, per its last federal filing, Engrave was serving 423 clients with an average account size of $1.6 million. Led by Greg and Taylor Parker, a father and son who dropped their brokerage licenses when they founded Engrave in 2017, the team includes seven advisors and three support staff.
“We recognized the challenges of continuing to serve our existing clients at the highest level while continuing to grow,” Greg Parker said in a statement Wednesday. “Ultimately, we were looking for a partner who could help us deepen our offering to existing clients while accelerating our organic growth strategy.”
Captrust’s in-house investment and tax services were the most “exciting” attractions, according to Taylor Parker. “They will significantly deepen the expertise we can offer,” he added.
Almost half of the deals Captrust closed last year were in the Lone Star State, following the addition of Monroe Vos, a Houston firm with $5.5 billion in assets, as well as Omega Wealth Partners in Ft. Worth, with $710 million, and Southern Wealth Management in San Antonio, with more than $2.3 billion.
In all, Captrust acquired around $14.5 billion in assets last year. Nine deals landed the integrator on Echelon Partners’ list of 2023’s most active acquirers, even as deal volume fell across the board. All acquired firms adopt the Captrust name and branding.
Founded in 1997, Raleigh, N.C.-based Captrust registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2003. When it took on its first capital partner GTCR in mid-2020, the firm was overseeing $390 billion in client assets. By the time The Carlyle Group bought a minority stake late last year, Captrust reported more than $714 billion—an increase of more than 80%.
Currently, Captrust manages about $149 billion in discretionary assets and advises on another $668 billion, primarily for retirement plan sponsors. Of 1,551 employees working from 90 offices in 34 states and Washington, D.C., 638 (~41%) are registered investment advisors, according to a firm spokesperson.