A $427 million Northwest Ohio-based firm is joining a Kestra Financial RIA subsidiary from its merger with Edward Jones. The move comes weeks after Kestra recapitalized and private equity firm Stone Point Capital became one of the main stakeholders for the second time.
Arc Private Wealth founders Dave Riggenbach, Adam Lublin, Amy Fredritz and Dylan Clement will all join Kestra Private Wealth Services as part of the deal, along with five support staff members. Arc Private Wealth has offices in the Ohio cities of Oregon, Waterville and Upper Sandusky.
According to Riggenbach, the firm was drawn to Kestra's “high-touch, white-glove experience” for clients and its greater access to investment platforms.
“We prioritize client relationships, and when we went independent, we were looking for a partner firm that shared these values,” he said.
The four founders have a combined more than four decades of experience in the industry. Advisors joined Edward Jones at various points between 2015 and 2017 (except Lublin, which joined in 2008, according to FINRA records).
Austin-based Kestra Financial is the independent broker/dealer subsidiary of Kestra Holdings, with several subsidiaries, including Kestra Private Wealth Services, Kestra Advisory Services and Kestra Investment Services.
Last month, Stone Point Capital regained a majority stake in Kestra Holdings in a recapitalization, with private equity firm Warburg Pincus exiting its majority investment. Stone Point initially took a minority interest in Kestra in 2016, but moved to a minority stake after Warburg Pincus took the reins in 2019. PE firm Oak Hill Capital took over Stone Point's stake in 2022 (Oak Hill remained a minority investor after the recapitalization).
The Stone Point deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025 and not affect Kestra's employees or operations, with no reworking of customers. The capital would go toward recruiting, servicing and technology efforts and strengthening Bluespring Wealth Partners, Kestra's buyout business.
“The firm's return as a majority shareholder represents a strong vote of confidence in the management team, its mission and financial services platform,” a Kestra spokesperson said of the deal.
In other moves this year, KPWS welcomed the $600 million New York-based firm Borger Financial Services AND a team of five Ohio counselors with about $500 million in assets that were merged by Merrill Lynch. To date, more than 50 single and multi-team offices across the country have joined Kestra through KPWS.
Among its subsidiaries, Kestra Financial has approximately $108 billion in assets under management and $56 billion in AUM (Kestra Holdings has $117 billion in assets under management).