Perigon Wealth Management, a San Francisco-based registered investment advisory firm that’s grown assets by more than 280% since early 2020, has picked up an eight-person team overseeing some $425 million for fewer than 600 clients.
It is Perigon’s first acquisition since swapping out minority investor Merchant Investment Management for Constellation Wealth Capital early this year, becoming the second high-growth firm to receive an investment from Karl Heckenberg’s new RIA-focused capital investment firm.
With offices in Reading, Penn., and West Columbia, S.C., Prudeo Partners is led by Andrew Todd and Michael Krumholz. Both have become partners in Perigon, joined by two other advisors, a client relationship manager, operations manager, operations specialist and research assistant.
Representing two new markets for Perigon, Prudeo will continue regional expansion under its current branding in the near term. The expectation is the team will eventually transition to the Perigon name once it has established a larger presence.
In a statement released Wednesday, Krumholtz said Perigon’s various affiliation options, tailored financial planning process, technology and range of investments made it the “perfect partner” to support next-level growth.
“The strong and well-defined culture at Perigon that puts advisors in charge of decisions throughout the business gives us the confidence that our decisions regarding how we deliver services that enable each of our clients to reach their unique financial goals will be respected,” added Todd.
“We want to give them that autonomy,” said Perigon CEO Art Ambarik. “But also look for ways to make them more efficient by bringing in our resources and adding to the resources they have through some of our in-house expertise around tax planning, estate planning, alternative investments and those kinds of things.”
Ambarik said Perigon found Prudeo’s geographical locations and growth-oriented mindset particularly attractive.
“I think this is going to be one of the themes around the industry this year,” he said. “Really, really focusing in on firms that are growth-minded and looking to integrate from a cultural and operational perspective. That’s the theme for us moving forward.”
Founded in 2004, Perigon began recruiting independent advisors as tuck-ins to its platform in 2017 and completed its first acquisition in 2020. The firm has since completed several more transactions and forged a strategic alliance with an international tax advisory firm.
Since early 2020, Perigon has grown assets from around $1.8 billion to $6.9 billion as of the end of January.
The partnership with Constellation hasn’t changed Perigon’s strategy or approach to M&A, Ambarik noted, but it has “been additive to the process.”
“The goal here is to have Perigon persist and be a sustainable firm,” he said. “And to do that, the emphasis is on bringing in partners—not just acquiring firms.”
Constellation Managing Director Lisa Crafford, head of advisory, said participation up to this point has primarily been as a capital provider—but she’s looking forward to seeing how her team can help with integration and provide ongoing support.
“What we’re not doing is coming in and proscribing a Constellation way of doing things and applying that uniformly across all partner firms," she explained. "We’re going to look at what Perigon already does for integration and help them professionalize and institutionalize that process so they can make it easier for their people, easier for their clients and faster on the technology side."
“And then, by doing that one project, we uncover five or six more that we can help with," she said. "We’re just starting to really scratch the surface with Perigon on what that partnership looks like, so stay tuned for more. There are going to be a lot of ways that we can lean into this partnership with Prudeo, and with others that they will inevitably close in the future.”
Ambarik expects to complete between five and seven acquisitions in 2024. The firm is looking at new geographies and bringing some new capabilities and services in-house, he said, watching to see what happens with other RIA/CPA matchups and exploring things like digital lead generation.
“My long-term goal is to be able to compete for the decades ahead in an industry where it’s pretty dynamic,” he said. “Technology is changing rapidly; people are changing firms pretty rapidly. We need to attract really good human capital and make sure we’re being innovative from a technology perspective because I think it’s safe to say it will be harder to compete in the coming years with all the consolidation and the economies of scale.”
Between acquisitions and organic growth, Ambarik said he anticipates continuing to grow at a rate similar to the last four years.