Advisory M&A News – 1/8/24

Hub International Acquires BLS Wealth Management, Adviser Gottschling

Hub International Ltd. announced it has acquired the assets of Bienenfeld, Lasek & Starr LLC and BLS Wealth Management LLC (together, BLS Wealth Management), and the wealth and retirement consulting practice of Bob Gottschling.

Located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, BLS Wealth Management is a full-service financial planning firm providing wealth management, insurance planning, employee benefits and employer-sponsored-retirement-plan services.

Managing Partner Howard Bienenfeld, Partners Carol Lasek and Mitch Starr and the BLS wealth management team will join Hub South Florida. Starr will lead the expansion of Hub’s retirement and private wealth practice in South Florida.

“Mitch, Howard and Carol have built an excellent client-centric firm that is a great addition to our team in South Florida,” Joe DeNoyior, Hub’s president of retirement and private wealth , said in a statement. “Their passion to serve clients is evident in each and every team member, and we are excited to bring their expertise to Hub. BLS Wealth Management provides a solid foundation as we continue to expand in the region.”

Gottschling, an adviser with Lincoln Financial Sagemark Consulting since 1988, has also joined Hub. Located in Vienna, Virginia, outside of Washington D.C., Gottschling’s practice provides wealth advisory and personal planning services, retirement plan consulting and strategic incentives consulting to clients.

“Bob has built one of the top retirement and individual wealth consulting practices in the Mid-Atlantic region in the last 25 years,” Peter Campagna, a partner in Wise Rhino Group, which represented Gottschling in the transaction, said in a statement. “Combining that advisory experience with an expertise in corporate strategic incentive consulting has allowed him to serve his clients at a very high level. HUB brings an enormous level of support and resources to Bob and is a perfect platform to meet his clients’ unique and changing needs. Adding a practice like Bob’s also further strengthens HUB’s already significant financial services presence in the DC Metro area.”

Mercer Advisors Acquires Transitions Wealth Management LLC

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. announced the acquisition of Transitions Wealth Management LLC, a wealth management firm located in Denver.

TWM was founded in 1999 by Bruce Bendell and Gary Saltzman. They were later joined by shareholders Michelle Sandt-Wade and Michael Simmons. The team serves more than 400 clients, with assets under management of approximately $465 million.

“We found our right partner after meeting with David Barton, vice chairman who heads up mergers and acquisitions for Mercer Advisors, and other Mercer Advisors personnel,” said Bendell in a statement. “David Barton, founder of Mercer Advisors’ in-house family office business model, said it best: ‘Mercer Advisors seeks to provide a Mayo Clinic approach to financial care by having a panoply of different specialists working together under one-roof, as one team, in an effort to provide outsized results for our clients.’ That is exactly our business model and level of care that we provide to our local clientele, but Mercer Advisors does it on a national level.”

“TWM stands out in a crowded RIA market,” Barton said in a statement. “They are exactly the kind of people and business model we seek to partner with, making each of us better and stronger.”

HANYS Benefit Services Rebrands as TruePlan Benefit and Retirement Advisors

HANYS Benefit Services announced it has rebranded to TruePlan Benefit and Retirement Advisors.

Based in Rensselaer, New York, TruePlan is a full-service independent consulting firm, registered investment advise and broker-dealer, primarily serving mission-driven organizations in New York and the Northeast. TruePlan is a subsidiary of The Healthcare Association of New York State.

TruePlan’s retirement planning services include plan optimization and governance, investment selection and monitoring, vendor management and benchmarking, merger acquisition as well as financial wellness and employee communications.

“Our firm has a long and successful track record of helping our clients with both their employee benefits programs and their retirement services,” Noah Buck, president of TruePlan, said in a statement. “We’re proud of what we offer to organizations and their employees. As we look to the future, it was essential that our name speak to all the ways we provide our clients value.”