Ron Carson Completes Move From LPL to Cetera

In May 2016, Carson Group Holdings – the parent company of Carson Wealth, Carson Institutional Alliance and the advisor-coaching group Peak Advisor Alliance – received a $35 million infusion from Long Ridge Equity Partners for investments in "advisor solutions, technology, and resources, as well as additional strategic support," the two entities said in a press release.

Founded in 1983, Carson Wealth had $6.5 billion in assets under advisement at the time of this announcement. Its institutional operations, launched in 2012, included 37 partner firms; Carson Wealth says this business has grown assets 100% in each of the past few years.

In connection with Long Ridge's investment, two of the firm's partners – Jim Brown and Kevin Bhatt – were named to Carson's board.

In October of this year, Carson became a partner of the Rockford, Illinois-based RIA firm Savant Capital Management, which also obtained $50 million in capital from investors. The deal solved succession planning and ownership issues for the $5 billion AUM firm, while also giving it financial resources to continue its growth plans.

For its part, Cetera Financial Group includes Cetera Advisors, Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Financial Institutions, Cetera Financial Specialists, First Allied Securities, Girard Securities and Summit Brokerage Services.

The broker-dealer group's current owners include Fortress Stategic Capital, Carlyle Investment Management and Eaton Vance Management.

These investors took ownership during the bankruptcy proceedings at RCS Capital, the earlier name of Cetera's parent company, which is now Aretec.

The bankruptcy was tied to Schorsch, a founder of RCS Capital, and some of his business partners, who became embroiled in an accounting scandal tied to a nontraded real estate investment trust group and related matters roughly two years ago. 

Also in September, the former CFO of American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP), an entity founded by Schorsch, was arrested for overstating the publicly traded REIT's financial performance.