Ashton Thomas Securities, an independent broker/dealer and RIA recently acquired by Arax Investment Partnerswill use BNY Mellon's Pershing for clearing and custody, and there will be no repapering of client accounts.
Arax, a wealth management platform backed by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, bought Excel Securities in January and renamed it Ashton Thomas Securities, borrowing the name from an RIA Arax acquired last year, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth. Ashton Thomas Securities, which has about two dozen advisers, will serve as a hybrid broker/dealer for the $5.5 billion Ashton Thomas Private Wealth. That RIA uses multiple custodians, including Pershing.
While Excel was already on the Pershing platform, Arax had the opportunity to take the business elsewhere after the acquisition. The firm considers this a new relationship with Pershing, one that will most likely grow into a larger relationship as Arax continues to acquire and expand its wealth management business.
“We will be making investments and acquisitions in a number of firms that we will aim to be complementary to each,” said Haig Ariyan, CEO, Arax Investment Partners. “We have already acquired over $7 billion in independent wealth management firm assets, and have signed and are yet to close an additional $11 billion in independent wealth management firm AUM. Pershing will undoubtedly be a significant part of that growth.”
That $7 billion refers to Ashton Thomas, as well as several smaller independent RIAs that Arax has acquired. These RIAs still operate under their ADVs.
“Our strategy will involve a smooth integration over the next 36 months, but right now we are only looking for targeted partners to invest,” Ariyan said. “Outside of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth, we have made four other acquisitions and signed two more. The total between them is over 2 billion dollars.”
A new component of this relationship is that Ashton Thomas Securities advisors will now have access to BNY Mellon Precision Direct Indexing, provided by BNY Mellon Investment Management. that the offer was distributed last June at Pershing's annual conference.
“This is a really important relationship for Pershing,” said Ben Harrison, head of wealth solutions, Pershing. “It's a longstanding relationship, yet rebuilt into a truly exciting wealth boutique that is an excellent destination for high-end wealth management teams and clients.”