Recent assertions that M&A activity in the registered investment advisory space is not, in fact, slowing appear to have been borne out yet again this week as more than $140 billion in transacted assets was announced.
Snowden Lane reached $10 billion in client assets with its newest partner; Captrust added its seventh Texas firm; and Dakota Wealth moved into Minnesota with its $575 million AUM Stillwater acquisition.
Meanwhile, a First Republic founding member joined RBC Wealth Management; a five-person team joined Rockefeller from Merrill Lynch; Mariner acquired a financial wellness platform; and Ameriprise announced the addition of a former Edward Jones team.
In earlier reported news, a team from Signature Bank joined Atria subsidiary Cadaret Grant, a team from First Republic joined William Blair, Hightower picked up a $2.3 billion firm in New England and Franklin Templeton announced plans to acquire Putnam Investments with around $136 billion in assets.
Snowden Lane Surpasses $10B in Assets with Latest Recruit
Snowden Lane Partners, a hybrid RIA partnership platform with 26 affiliates, announced Douglas Gill joined the firm with $420 million in AUM.
Gill will become a partner and managing director with Snowden’s Riverstone Capital Wealth Group in Bethesda, Md. Prior to Snowden Lane, he founded FullArc Wealth Management at CreativeOne Wealth in late 2015, after 17 years in investment management at both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Earlier in his career, Gill spent 11 years in institutional bond trading at Goldman.
“The depth and breadth of his investment experience, in addition to his expertise in working with entrepreneurs, will be a natural complement to our team’s existing capabilities,” Riverstone Senior Partner Alex Bryer said in a statement.
“I’ve been fortunate to work for a range of firms across the wealth management industry, each of which applied their own approaches, but the emphasis Snowden Lane places on personalized client service made the firm a clear choice as I continue my career in the independent advisory space,” added Gill.
Gill’s arrival brings Snowden to more than $10 billion in client assets.
Founded in 2011, Snowden Lane is majority owned by Estancia Capital Partner and has an expanded credit facility through Orix Corp. The firm has grown rapidly primarily through the recruitment of talent from large firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Fieldpoint Private.
Today, New York City-based Snowden Lane comprises 137 total professionals, including 75 financial advisors, across 13 offices around the country.
Captrust Adds $710M AUM Omega Wealth Partners in Fort Worth
Captrust Financial Advisors acquired Omega Wealth Partners in Fort Worth, Texas, a nine-person team managing $710 million for more than 650 clients.
Co-owned by Tom Hardgrove, John Dickens and Tammy Bryant, Omega will adopt Captrust branding in the deal. It’s the fourth acquisition Captrust announced this year, and its second in Texas, following the addition of Monroe Vos, with $5.8 billion in client assets, in March. Collectively, Captrust has added nearly $8 billion in client assets to its platform in the first half of the year through acquisitions.
Founded in 1997, Captrust embarked on an aggressive inorganic growth strategy in 2006. Since then, the firm has completed 67 M&A deals.
Today, Captrust employs more than 1,300 professionals across 75 locations nationwide and oversees more than $714 billion in client assets. The Omega team has established its seventh location in Texas.
Dakota Wealth Acquires Stillwater Investment Management, with $575M AUM
Dakota Wealth Management has grown AUM to approximately $3.2 billion—a five-fold increase since the firm was founded five years ago—with the acquisition of Stillwater Investment Management, an RIA managing around $575 million.
Stillwater CEO/CIO James Tonrey Jr. joins Dakota along with his advisory team, Amy Enderlein, Eric Bratvold and his wife, Dana Tonrey. Tonrey Jr. will become a senior managing director in the firm’s first Minnesota office, bringing Dakota to a total of 15 offices in 12 states.
“We add firms intentionally and thoughtfully,” Dakota founder and CEO Peter Raimondi said in a statement. “Jim, Amy, Eric, and Dana share our client centric culture, and I am confident we share the same vision for Dakota’s next phase of growth.”
First Republic Founding Member Joins RBC Wealth Management
Carmen Castro-Franceschi has joined RBC’s wealth management unit in San…