In a busy week for mergers and acquisitions in the advisor space, United Capital continued its expansion into the Atlanta market with its purchase of a large stake in PPA Advisors. Also in M&A news, Envestnet completed its acquisition of Prudential WMS and Madison Dearborn Partners completed its NFP deal.
Here are the three latest advisor acquisitions:
1) United Capital Continues Atlanta Expansion With Stake in PPA Advisors
On Monday, fast-growing private wealth counseling firm United Capital Financial Advisers of Newport Beach, Calif., announced that it had bought the majority of the assets of Atlanta-based PPA Advisors. Founded in 1986, PPA Advisors is the second firm in Georgia to join United Capital in less than a year as the acquiring firm broadens its footprint in the Southeast by integrating established registered investment advisors into its national RIA platform.
PPA Advisors brings $224 million under management and an additional $122 million under advisement, along with a team of nine professionals, to United Capital. The office will be immediately rebranded as United Capital and managed under the leadership of four managing directors, all of whom are certified financial planners: Ross Ramsey, R. Corley Watson III, Randy Berry and Charles "Rocky" Costa III.
As of June 11, United Capital and its affiliates had approximately $17 billion in assets under advisement.
"We knew that by joining United Capital, we could create more value for our clients and gain a new dimension of financial planning, technology and investment resources from which our clients can benefit," Ramsey said in a statement. "We have been welcomed into one of the most innovative financial advisory firms in the country, and look forward to being in a position to spend more time on what matters most—our interaction and dialogue with clients."
United Capital will assist Ramsey and his fellow managing directors with operating structure and back-office needs. The opportunity to bring the Honest Conversations toolkit into the client wealth planning process was a big motivation for aligning with United Capital.
Read more about United Capital CEO Joe Duran in Cup of Joe: Starbucks. Financial Advice. Together at Last at AdvisorOne.
2) Envestnet Completes Acquisition of Prudential Wealth Management Solutions
Envestnet on Monday announced that it has completed the purchase of the Wealth Management Solutions (WMS) division of Prudential Investments. The $33 million deal allows Chicago-based Envestnet to further build out its wealth management technology and services platform for investment advisors.
Envestnet acquired the assets of Prudential WMS for $10 million in cash upon closing, plus contingent consideration of up to a total of $23 million in cash to be paid over three years. Once the integration is implemented, Prudential WMS advisors and its primarily institutional client base will gain the benefits of Envestnet's "scalable" wealth management platform, manager research and broad product access, according to an Envestnet release.
