CAPTRUST Acquires MFP Strategies

CAPTRUST Financial Advisors has acquired Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based MFP Strategies.

Founded in 2000, MFP Strategies is an advisory firm specializing in wealth management and capital preservation strategies for private clients, investment advisory services for institutions, and investment and retirement plan advisory services for institutional plan sponsors.

“These guys are as good as we’ve ever run into,” says Fielding Miller, CEO of CAPTRUST Financial Advisors, an independent investment research and fee-based advisory firm specializing in providing retirement plan and investment advisory services to retirement plan fiduciaries, executives, and high-net-worth individuals.

The transaction closed on July 31, and adds 25 employees and $5 billion in assets under advisement to CAPTRUST, bringing the firm to about 340 employees, more than $180 billion in assets, and more than 2,000 retirement plans under advisement. The group will fold into CAPTRUST’s RIA and remain in their location as a new CAPTRUST office.

MFP’s specialty in retirement plans is in the middle market: “Right in our sweet spot,” says Miller. In addition to a strong traditional DC plan practice, MFP Strategies also has a large nonqualified plan business, which provided a good synergy for CAPTRUST. In addition to the strong retirement plan practice, the advisers also have a specialty in ultra-high-net-worth estate planning and wealth management and business preservation, which was also appealing, Miller notes.

“This relationship creates a distinct opportunity for both firms,” says MFP Strategies Founding Partner Mike Molewski, who becomes a principal at CAPTRUST. “There are tremendous similarities between the two firms’ culture, vision, and goals that will provide immediate value to our clients.”

This is CAPTRUST’s nineteenth acquisition over the past nine years. A risk of the acquisition model, Miller says, is that there must be a good cultural fit between the two firms. Miller says CAPTRUST has yet to have that be an issue, making him very pleased with his firm’s acquisition track record. “We’ve been very fortunate,” says Miller, “getting the right people at the right time.”

CAPTRUST is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, with offices in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.