Advisory M&A

Three Adviser Teams Representing $1.1B Join Ameriprise

Three teams of financial advisers have joined independent Ameriprise Financial Inc. advisories, moving from Raymond James and Synovus Securities Inc.

Allan McClure and Daniel Bass have joined Ameriprise from Synovus with $422 million in client assets. The Birmingham, Alabama-based advisers have joined Ameriprise practice Gratium Wealth Planning, which is led by co-founders James Evans and Kris Kasturi. The team of 43 financial advisers and 25 support staff has 15 offices across Florida, Louisiana and Alabama and manages more than $2.8 billion in client assets.

“After seeing the depth of resources available at Ameriprise, we knew it was the place where we could best execute on our top priority of providing a superior client experience that puts clients’ needs first,” McClure said in a statement.

Separately, Lakeland, Florida-based Todd Barrow, Brent Powers and Brandon Jorge joined Gratium Wealth Planning from Raymond James with more than $340 million in client assets.

Barrow, Powers and Jorge said in the announcement that they joined for greater support and shared values. As advisers who primarily serve as 401(k) plan sponsors, they also want to focus on their specialty. “401(k)s are a major part of our practice and it’s how we grow our business,” Powers said in a statement.

Private wealth adviser Kathy Hobart joined independent Ameriprise channel Heritage Wealth Advisors in Mercer Island, Washington, moving from Raymond James with $340 million in client assets.

Heritage Wealth is led by Ameriprise private wealth adviser Erin Scannell and manages more than $3 billion in client assets. The team has 13 offices across Washington, Arizona and California and includes 15 financial advisers, 8 specialists and 37 support staff members, according to the announcement.

“Initially, I wrestled with how I could build out a similar model in my own practice, but then it dawned on me—why not join them instead?” Hobart said in a statement.

Mercer Advisors Acquires Steward Wealth Management LLC

Registered investment adviser Mercer Global Advisors Inc. has acquired $680 million wealth management firm Steward Wealth Management LLC.

Mercer brings on the Colleyville, Texas-based firm to expand its financial planning, investments, tax and estate planning services in the region, according to the announcement. Steward was founded by Dustin Stiefel and Vince Hawkins in 2007 and serves about 340 clients.

“As my partners and I planned for the future, we realized we needed to add scale as well as adding more services for our clients,” Hawkins said in a statement. “We found a wonderful cultural fit between our two organizations and loved the fact that they offer in-house estate planning, tax planning and return preparation, among other services.”

Mercer operates from 70 locations nationally and manages $48 billion in client assets.

“The Steward team will join our strong team in Texas and will elevate our position to one of the leading independent RIAs in the state,” Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors, said in a statement.

The deal was the second of early August for Mercer, which announced the acquisition of $720 million wealth manager Private Asset Management Inc. on August 1.

Cetera Acquires Father-Daughter Team Powell Financial Partners

Cetera Financial Group recently acquired Powell Financial Partners, a Georgetown, Texas-based independent wealth management firm run by Mickey Powell and daughter Jennifer Powell.

The acquisition builds on Cetera’s strategic plan to support advisers throughout their careers and in their succession planning, according to the announcement.

“At Powell Financial, we pride ourselves on our collaborative and family-first approach, which we see reflected at Cetera as well,” Jennifer Powell, investment adviser representative and partner in Powell Financial Partners, said in a release. “With support from Cetera, we are positioned well to continue to strategically grow our business and help clients realize their financial goals.”

Mickey and Jennifer Powell have been affiliated with Cetera Wealth Partners since 2021. Cetera Wealth Partners was created in the same year through the acquisition of assets related to Voya Financial Advisors’ independent financial planning channel.

Hightower Facilitates Fairport Wealth Adding New Jersey-based Wealth CMT

Hightower has facilitated a merger for Fairport Wealth, a Cleveland, Ohio-based Hightower advisory business, and Wealth CMT, a registered investment advisory with $300 million in assets under management.

Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Wealth CMT will join Fairport’s wealth management advisory managing $4.5 billion in AUM with offices across the U.S. The deal marks Fairport’s fifth sub-acquisition since joining Hightower.

Wealth CMT was founded in 2009, is led by Andrew Barnett and Eric Feder and works with more than 180 families and foundations. 

“As we continue to support Fairport Wealth with its own growth ambitions, we became excited for the opportunity with Wealth CMT,” Bob Oros, CEO and chairman of Hightower, said in a statement. “This further proves our ability to drive scale from within by helping our affiliated businesses with follow-on acquisitions adding to their capabilities and talent.”