MAI Capital Management buys $562 million LWS Wealth Advisors
Cleveland-based MAI Capital Management, which claims almost $21 billion in assets under management, has picked up a New Jersey-based firm that manages $562 million for clients.
A four-person team in Basking Ridge, NJ, formerly LWS Wealth Advisors, has created the first MAI-branded location in the state, and founder Lance Lipset has assumed the role of regional president. They offer convenient asset management and comprehensive financial planning services, as well as retirement plan consulting.
“Since starting our business in 2012, we have had a singular focus on being a comprehensive partner for our clients,” Lipset said in a statement. “As LWS continues to grow, our decision to join MAI – an organization that shares our values - allows our team to double down on bespoke customer service, leverage MAI's capabilities and expand our offerings in areas of such as alternative investments.”
The deal, which closed on March 1, represents MAI's fourth acquisition of 2024 and 36th since entering the M&A arena in the summer of 2019. Majority-owned by Galway Holdings since 2021, MAI currently oversees approximately $20.8 billion for more than 7,500 individual and 2 institutional clients from offices in 13 states.
Beacon Pointe acquires first Mid-Atlantic firm, adding $560M AUM
Beacon Pointe Advisors, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based RIA that oversees more than $30 billion in assets, has completed its first M&A transaction in the Mid-Atlantic region with the acquisition of Columbia, Md.-based Keeney Financial Group.
The 10-person team, led by KFG president and founder John Keeney, includes five advisors and four professional operational and client service staff members who provide “personalized financial planning and investment management services to individuals, families, trusts , charities and foundations, pensions and corporations” with approximately $560 million in assets under management.
“Our focus for the past 25 years has been providing innovative solutions in a concierge service model,” Keeney said in a statement. “We're excited about what (Beacon Pointe's) scale and quality bench depth will bring to the client experience on every front, including planning, investment and communications.”
“The Keeney Financial team gives us a strategic presence between the Baltimore and Washington, DC, metro areas in a very attractive and affluent location,” added Beacon Pointe President Matt Cooper.
Backed by private equity firm KKR, Beacon Pointe bought it the first team off the wire at the end of 2023, signaling an evolution of the strategy Cooper said was made possible by increased awareness of the RIA channel.
Founded in March 2002 with no offices or assets to speak of, Beacon Pointe has grown to employ approximately 500 individuals in more than 50 offices nationwide. The firm reports overseeing more than $30 billion in cumulative client assets, including more than $23 billion under management under its ADV for over 13,000 individual and 240 institutional investors.
Constellation-backed Perigon picks up two firms, $375 million in assets
Bay Area-based Perigon Wealth Management has since acquired two other firms sale of a minority stake for Karl Heckenberg's growth-focused RIA investment firm, Constellation Wealth Capital, earlier this year.
Based in Syracuse, NY, Blue Water Capital Management was founded in 2007 and includes a team of three advisors and one financial planning associate managing approximately $200 million for more than 300 individual and approximately 15 institutional clients.
Lumin Financial in Southfield, Mich., founded in 2000 to provide investment advisory services to employer-sponsored ERISA retirement plans and 401(k) plan participants, includes two advisers, three associates, one manager wealth services and a director of operations. They also provide financial planning and asset management services to individual clients, which account for about 60% of the approximately $175 million under management.
“Our array of membership models and advisor support continue to make our majority advisor-owned firm an attractive partner for growing financial practices,” Perigon CEO Art Ambarik said in a statement.
The acquisitions represent Perigon's second and third deals of 2024, after the acquisition of Prudeo Partners in February. Founded in 2004, Perigon began recruiting independent advisors as onboarders to its platform in 2017, completed its first acquisition in 2020, and has since made several other deals and formed a strategic alliance with an international advisory firm tax.
The capital secured through the Constellation partnership will support continued growth as Perigon pursues organic and inorganic growth strategies with a mission to build a national firm. Since the start of 2020, the firm has grown assets from about $1.8 billion to nearly $7 billion at the end of January.
With more than 100 employees and 64 advisors, Perigon serves approximately 3,425 individual and 75 institutional clients.