Captrust Financial Advisors and Pensionmark Retirement Group have partnered to create a new jointly owned RIA under the Pensionmark brand.
The strategic partnership aims to create a platform for retirement plan advisors, effective after a 30-day ramp up time, said Captrust CEO Fielding Miller.
"They [Pensionmark] have a very good set of tools and services and we basically come along and partnered with them to start a new version of the company," Miller said in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. "It will also be called Pensionmark, but it will be with a brand-new RIA and be using our broker-dealer as opposed to LPL, which is what they're using now."
In addition to its broker-dealer, Captrust will bring to Pensionmark "a lot of back-office support" and "a lot of other operational synergies that we can bring to there that make their business run more efficiently," Miller said.
Captrust also brings a lot of capital to the partnership.
"[Pensionmark] has what we feel like are the best tools and services that can take on some of these advisors, and what it was really missing was capital and a partner that could help them build it out," Miller said. "That's why we decided instead of to buy the whole business, we decided to be an investor in the business."
Miller wouldn't disclose how much capital Captrust is bringing to the table or the specific terms of the deal, but he said "it's significant."
While Pensionmark has been around as an advisory firm for over 20 years, its affiliate business is relatively new, as of about 5 years ago.
Miller sees strong opportunity in Pensionmark's ability within the affiliate industry.
