CAPTRUST Acquires Fountain Financial Associates

The retirement plan industry merger and acquisition (M&A) streak continues with the newly announced acquisition of Fountain Financial Associates, a wealth management practice based in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Fountain Financial Associates brings to CAPTRUST five advisers and an equal number of support staff, advising on assets of $654 million. Vinton Fountain founded the firm in 1998 and will join CAPTRUST alongside fellow advisers Buck Beam, Brice Gibson, Chris Riley and Bob Warwick.

News of this latest acquisition for CAPTRUST comes after a busy 2019 for the firm in terms of M&A activity—and a record-breaking year for adviser industry M&A in general. Through its M&A activity, CAPTRUST says it is eagerly building business models that can support advisers working with both private wealth management and institutional clients. The firm’s leadership says that serving retirement plans and private individuals does not mean a firm will be aggressively soliciting rollovers or engaging in other potentially problematic cross-selling behaviors barred by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Instead, they say, building a firm that does both private wealth and institutional retirement plan business is about creating a holistic service ecosystem that clients want and need, especially as the defined contribution (DC) plan system matures and becomes a key component of individuals’ retirement income.

“There are many important characteristics that we at CAPTRUST look for when considering having a new firm join our team,” says CAPTRUST President Ben Goldstein. “Among them is having the strong conviction to act as a fiduciary and put the needs of their clients and the community first.”