Hub Lands AFS 401(k) Retirement and Wealth Advisories

Hub International Ltd. has landed AFS’s retirement plan and wealth advisory divisions, the firm announced Monday.

Chicago-based aggregator Hub will bring on AFS 401(k) Retirement Services LLC and wealth manager AFS Financial Group LLC. The deal will fold into Hub’s Mid-Atlantic division AFS’s team, including Alp Atabek, founder and principal; Alex Assaley, principal; and Jason Dahl, principal.

AFS was previously affiliated with registered investment advisory Commonwealth Financial Network, according to prior announcements and filings, and the process of exploring options and joining Hub took about 18 months, according to an emailed response from AFS. Neither Hub nor AFS released terms of the acquisition.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, AFS’s retirement division works with employer-sponsored retirement plan advisement and participant advice coaching services. AFS Financial provides financial planning and investment management services, according the announcement, and had $435 million in client assets under management, according to its ADV form filing in 2021.

“Like many leading advisers in the industry, we have been cognizant of the continued consolidation trend for some time now and, through the last several years, firms have reached out to us with interest about acquiring AFS,” Assaley wrote in an emailed response. “For a long time – we were comfortable and happy with our structure, growth, and success. With that said, during the last two years we recognized the dramatic shift within the retirement and wealth management industry and believed that, to continue to best serve our clients and create the best opportunities for our employees / team, we may need to find a strategic partner that could provide tools, resources, size, and scale.”

The deal comes in a year in which retirement aggregators continue to scoop up both wealth management firms and retirement plan advisories. Mergers and acquisitions consultancy Wise Rhino, which advised AFS on the transaction, wrote in its Q2 2023 report on the industry that “there are more than one hundred opportunistic or reactive advisory firm buyers active today and more continue to emerge to meet the needs of the industry.”

“There are a number of high-quality firms building in the marketplace, but we are convinced Hub is the best fit for our team, our clients, and our continued growth and success,” said Assaley, who served as president of the National Association of Plan Advisors in 2020-2021.

Hub’s wealth management division oversees clients with about $148 billion in assets.

“AFS’s reputation and relationships will help us continue the strategic expansion of our retirement and wealth management services,” Joe DeNoyior, Hub’s retirement and private wealth president, said in a statement.

Peter Campagna, partner with Wise Rhino, said in a statement related to the deal that AFS was one of the “earliest adopters of an integrated service model” providing both retirement plan consulting and wealth management, as well as a “pioneer” in financial wellness by creating their own participant engagement technology.