Georgia-based $12 billion firm Merit Financial Advisors is acquiring Roth Asset Management, a $773 million Lake Oswego, Ore.-based firm, strengthening Merit's presence in the Pacific Northwest.
President Steven B. Roth will join Merit's board as an asset manager and said Merit's “collaborative team-based approach” stood out when he was looking for potential buyers. Roth Asset Management focuses on investment advisory, corporate 401(k) plans and portfolio management.
It is Meri's latest move to expand in the region. The firm has several locations near Seattle and Tacoma in Washington and another in Idaho; Roth will partner with the firm's Issaquah, Wash., office.
in March, the firm acquired Viren & Associatesa $542 million firm formerly associated with Mariner. It is located in Spokane, Wash., and was Merit's first office in the eastern part of the state. Earlier in December, the firm earned $603 million Trinity Financial Partners, a firm based in Berwyn, Penn. which became Merit's third office in the Keystone State.
Roth's deal is Merit's 30th since private equity firm Wealth Partners Capital Group took a minority stake in the firm in December 2020, partnering with several strategic investors led by HGGC's Aspire Holdings platform. The firm is based in Atlanta, has more than 40 offices nationwide and manages approximately $11.84 million at the end of June.
In late July, Merit Financial spun off from LPL and later moved its business to Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments.
The move followed an LPL earnings call in July in which then-LPL CEO Dan Arnold said some of the firms' supervisory jurisdiction offices were “strategically misaligned” with the firm's mission and model. WealthManagement.com reported earlier this month that Wealth Growth Group was another of these firms.