Arax Investment Partners, a wealth management platform backed by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, has acquired US Capital Wealth Advisors, a hybrid broker/dealer and registered investment advisor with $9 billion in total assets across 5,500 clients and 62 advisors.

The firm, headquartered in Houston, will operate as a separate brand on the Arax platform and will not be merged into any of its other units. In addition to Houston, it also has offices in Austin, Dallas and Georgetown, Texas, as well as New York and Massachusetts.

US Capital Wealth Advisors was created in 2021 when US Capital Advisors, co-founded by Pat Mendenhall and Dave King, merged with Legacy One Financialan RIA backed by Commercial Investment Management in Austin, led by Jim Fortescue.

Over the past few months, Arax has built a name for itself in the wealth management M&A space. At the beginning of this year, she won Excel Securities & Associates, a Rochester, NY-based IBD and RIA with $1 billion in client assets. That firm now operates as Ashton Thomas Securities, borrowing the name from an RIA Arax acquired last year, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth.

Arax announced in March that Ashton Thomas Securities would do so keep using Pershing for cleaning and storage. 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. Arax has relationships with Schwab Institutional, NFS and Fidelity Brokerage Services for most of its custody and clearing needs.

Arax now has 120 advisors serving over 12,000 clients on more than $16 billion in assets under management and advice.