RIA aggregator Focus Financial Partners has facilitated a merger between two of its partner firms, as it continues to combine its broad ecosystem of companies in a small number of its existing units. Colony Group, a $21.1 billion RIA led by CEO Michael Nathanson, is one of those entities and will join GW & Wade, a Wellesley, Mass.-based RIA with $10.4 billion in assets. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, will create a $31.5 billion firm.
This marks the second merger signed within the Focus partnership as part of the new “hub” strategy. Focus has acquired the management teams of Colony and Kovitz and converted them into focal firms that will acquire other Focus partner RIAs.
As part of this strategy, Recently assigned focus Colony's Nathanson and Kovitz's Mitch Kovitz in senior leadership roles. Kovitz, principal, founder and co-chief investment officer of Kovitz, a $7.68 billion RIA, is now vice chairman, while Nathanson is now president of Focus. Both continue in their current roles at RIA. Dan Glaser, chairman of Focus, continues to serve as interim CEO.
GW & Wade, which joined Focus in 2007, is led by directors Roger Wade and Tim Pinch. It will operate as GW & Wade Group in Colony.
“Over the years, Focus has become home to many outstanding wealth management firms, and it's exciting to see two of them join forces,” Nathanson said in a statement. “We expect that, through opportunistic mergers like this one, Focus will continue to facilitate the accelerated evolution of firms that choose such a path.”
Last year, Focus was taken private a sale to the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and as a result, all three founders of Focus left. Former CEO Rajini Kodialam and former head of M&A Lenny Chang resigned in early August – almost a month ago the deal was finalized– and CEO Rudy Adolf left in October. Kodialam has since re-emerged as a board member at TIFIN AG, which was recently spun off from TIFIN.
In November, Focus announced four changes in personnelwhich reflects a “strategic evolution as a private company towards a more cohesive organization that seeks a common purpose, higher levels of collaboration and operates with higher levels of efficiency for the benefit of its partner firms,” the company said in a statement. .