OneDigital Picks Up $1.3B Firm
OneDigital Investment Advisors, the RIA arm of “tech-enabled” insurance, talent and financial advisory firm OneDigital, added a 44-person team managing about $1.3 billion for 2,000 households.
With 30 locations in nine states—California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida—WealthSource Partners is led by CEO Bryan Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer Eric Patton and Chief Business Development Officer Jon Dubravac. The trio came together in 2015 when Sullivan merged his planning-focused practice with Patton and Dubravac’s “state-of-the-art” technology stack.
The partnership with OneDigital will give them access to a broader range of services, “including advanced financial planning tools, robust investment strategies and a wider network of expertise,” they said in a joint statement.
Based in Overland Park, Kan., OneDigital Investment Advisors reports more than $100 billion on its platform, which includes more than 35 affiliated practices and about $89 billion on its ADV.
Carson Buys Fisher Financial in New England
Carson Wealth adds its first locations in Vermont and New Hampshire with its first acquisition of the year.
Fisher Financial Advisors, a $180 million firm led by managing directors Tim Fisher and his son, Nate Fisher, will adopt Carson branding and gain access to the firm’s integrated technology stack and broad array of resources.
“This deal isn’t just about adding locations; it's about advancing the industry standard,” Carson Vice President of M&A Michael Belluomini said in a statement. “We share in their commitment to future-proof their firm.”
“As we've grown, the need for additional expertise became apparent, and Carson’s expansive resources can help fill a lot of buckets for us, like portfolio management and tax and estate planning,” said Tim Fisher. “We knew it was the right move.”
“Succession planning was also a paramount consideration for us. We wanted not only to sustain our growth, but to continue expanding,” added Nate Fisher.
Carson reports overseeing $32 billion in assets, about $20 billion of which is managed under its ADV, with more than 1,000 employees and around 475 advisors serving more than 49,000 families among its advisory network of about 150 partner offices and more than 50 Carson Wealth locations.
Emigrant-Backed SteelPeak Scoops Beverly Hills Advisor
SteelPeak Wealth, an RIA owned by SteelPeak Holdings and backed by Emigrant Partners, picked up a Los Angeles-based advisor in its first acquisition of the year.
Mike Janis, formerly with Baker Tilly, will work out of a new Beverly Hills location when it opens in March. Janis spent more than a decade with Madison Avenue Securities and about a year with Squar Milner before joining Baker Tilly in late 2020. He has also worked as a commercial real estate advisor.
Based in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, with additional offices in Newport Beach and Las Vegas, Nev., SteelPeak manages around $1.9 billion in assets for more than 1,600 households and around 110 institutions. The firms received a minority investment from Emigrant Partners in 2023 “to augment its growth engine by helping to facilitate M&A transactions of firms, advisory teams and individual advisors.”
SteelPeak Holdings, which comprises the RIA and an in-house investment management division, as well as insurance, estate and tax businesses, is owned by founding partners Reza Zamani, Maz Esmailbeigi and Ali Zamani.
Two Kestra Firms Combine
Evoke Wealth Management and Maven Bridge Capital, independent wealth management firms affiliated with Kestra Private Wealth Services, merged to create a bi-coastal business under the Evoke brand.
Based in Montclair, NJ, Evoke Managing Partners Howard Reizun, Athishay Gangadharan and Craig Petrassi were introduced to Maven CEO Kristoffer Fu, from suburban Los Angeles, at Kestra’s 2022 Ascend conference in Arizona. Both teams joined Kestra PWS in 2021.
Fu will continue serving his current clients in California while supporting Evoke’s regional expansion. Before going independent with Kestra, he spent more than a decade with Chase and then JP Morgan.
“Since going independent I’ve envisioned growing my business via a culturally aligned partnership,” he said in a statement.
“Kristoffer’s background in social media and business exit planning will be an incredible asset for the firm, while our team’s understanding behind the logistics of business growth will support Kristoffer’s goals of expansion,” according to Evoke’s management team.
Evoke serves wealthy households, physicians, biotech executives, endowments and private foundations, while Fu provides holistic financial planning focusing on widowed women and small, family-owned businesses.
The firm said it will continue to pursue an inorganic growth strategy, with plans to expand to the Southeast in the coming years.
Kestra launched its Private Wealth Services division in 2010 to help wirehouse and W-2 advisors go independent. The firm has helped to launch more than 35 practices in 17 states.
Owned by Warburg Pincus, Kestra Holdings doesn’t disclose assets across three subsidiary RIAs and one broker/dealer but reported cumulatively overseeing more than $100 billion at the end of 2022, about half of which was under management.
Grove Point Financial, with $15 billion in assets, was sold to Atria Wealth Solutions in the fall of last year.
Telemus Capital Merging with Kovitz Investment Group
As Focus moves to consolidate its many partner firms, $3 billion AUM Telemus Capital will be joining Kovitz Investment Group, a $7.3 billion firm based in Chicago.
Kovitz is set to be one of a few large hubs after Focus made a deal to buy out its management group and added CEO Mitch Kovitz to its leadership team as a vice chairman. It was the second firm to agree to the arrangement, following The Colony Group, a Boston-based firm managing nearly $19 billion.
First reported by Crain’s, Telemus and Kovitz will retain current branding in the near term.
The reorganization at Focus comes after private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice bought the sprawling network of RIAs and took it private for $7 billion in an all-cash deal.