Call it a rollup, merger, whatever you like, but consolidation in the RIA space continues. Focus Financial Partners, a partnership of independent wealth management firms with more than $51 billion in assets, announced Thursday that Founders Financial Network will merge into Buckingham Asset Management.
Buckingham, based in St. Louis, joined the Focus network in February 2007. Founders, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, was one of the founding partners of Focus, having joined at its launch in January 2006. The companies say their combined client assets under management or administration reach "nearly $17 billion." The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"I am pleased to see how this relationship has developed over the years," Rudy Adolf (left), founder and CEO of Focus, said in a statement. "It has grown from mutual admiration to a deeper level of partnership, further emphasizing the value we bring to our partner firms."
Buckingham delivers fee-only wealth management to high-net-worth individuals, businesses, trusts, nonprofits and retirement plans. This merger is the sixth transaction for Buckingham in two years. Together, the transactions have added $1.1 billion in assets, have broadened its geographic footprint and have strengthened the firm's economy of scale, according to the firm.
