Readers can probably relate to enjoying a good panel or discussion at a conference only to check their phone to find a flood of messages.
We admit to having a bit of that feeling at WealthManagement.com this week, as we were enjoying RIA Edge Los Angeles while also noting the flood of deal announcements.
We did step aside to cover a few, including Creative Planning finalizing its mega-deal for $250 billion SageView Advisory Group. We got details from Creative Planning CEO and founder Peter Mallouk, who, like seller private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners, has the right to pop a bottle of bubbly this weekend.
Senior Reporter Patrick Donachie, while holding down the fort in New York, reported late on Friday what was a unique merger between two firms without PE-backing to create $10 billion RIA Greenspring Advisors, along with a story this week about Beacon Pointe Advisors, BIP Wealth and Raymond James all announcing the addition of advisory teams.
Before you set off for your own weekend (which, as always, we hope includes some celebratory vibes), we have a few more moves of note below.
VestGen Wealth Snags Advisory Practices with $1.5B in Assets
Chicago-based VestGen Wealth Partners has grown its RIA platform to $7 billion with the addition of six breakaways from national broker/dealers overseeing a combined $1.5 billion.
The additions include 15 advisors across four states, which VestGen announced fit into its model of creating succession plan paths to ensure continuity of services for clients across generations. They also show relatively quick growth for VestGen, which launched in December 2024 and now has 45 advisors on its platform.
“In less than a year, we have launched an instantly competitive firm of consequence working to solve the industry’s succession problem without disrupting clients’ lives,” CEO and founder Josh Gerry said in a statement. “Bringing six more teams onto one fully integrated wealth management ecosystem is the next step—giving advisors more resources and families uninterrupted, multi-generational care.”
The advisors are:
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Ursula Daley, who left LPL Financial’s Commonwealth Financial Network with an all-female team and $410 million in client assets;
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Michael Moloney, formerly of Cambridge Investment Research, who oversees $400 million in assets;
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Michael Martin, formerly of LPL Financial, who oversees $280 million in assets;
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Jeff Lesniewicz and Brian Ahern, formerly of Raymond James, who oversee $250 million in assets;
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John Straley, formerly of World Equity Group, with $219 million in client assets; and
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Jon Lewis, who represents $60 million in assets, had also been with Commonwealth.
VestGen, which uses Private Client Services as its broker/dealer, is also offering advisors adjacent wealth services such as tax compliance, estate planning and retirement planning resources.
Merit Makes 50th Acquisition With $476B Obsidian Planning
Merit Financial Advisors, an acquisitive Atlanta-based registered investment advisor, has made its 50th deal since being founded in 1998 by bringing on Obsidian Planning Solutions, a Maryland-based RIA with two offices in the state and $476 million in client assets.
Obsidian, founded in 1998 by Patrick Carroll, specializes in business succession planning. Carroll will join Merit along with firm Partner Todd Feldman.
“Obsidian’s primary focus is guiding business owners through a process to plan their eventual exit, and partnering with Merit has been a crucial part of our strategy,” Todd said in a statement.
The deal adds to Merit’s institutional knowledge and business succession planning services.
It is the firm’s first since taking minority funding from Constellation Wealth Capital in July. The investment saw out prior minority funders, Wealth Partners Capital Group, and a group of investors led by HGGC’s Aspire Holdings.
Merit was founded by Rick Kent, who specialized in working with telecommunications executives and employees in the Atlanta area. Kent and President Kay Lynn Mayhue have built the RIA into a 40-office firm managing nearly $20 billion in assets.
Jeff Nash of Bridgemark Strategies advised Obsidian on the deal.
Edelman Financial Engines Snags $300M Wisconsin-based RIA
Edelman Financial Engines, the Boston-based wealth manager and retirement plan managed accounts provider, has further bolstered its $308 billion in client assets by acquiring the Hasenberg Financial Group, an Eau Claire, Wisc.-based RIA.
Founder Chris Hasenberg and team will fully integrate with Edelman Financial to continue offering financial advisory services, emphasizing estate planning and financial education events. Hasenberg manages over $300 million for some 750 clients.
According to its announcement, the deal is Edelman’s ninth in the last three years, reflecting its “selective M&A program.” The firm is focused on growing “in regions where demand and need for wealth planning are accelerating.”
Edelman Financial works with 1.3 million clients and employs 1,600 staff members, including financial planning specialists, client services associates, and analysts. The firm expects to “remain in active discussions” for more deals in 2025 and is backed by a minority investment from Warburg Pincus LLC.
Carson Fully Acquires Wealth Team in Pittsburgh
Carson Group, an Omaha, Neb.-based RIA with more than $49 billion in AUM, continues to bring affiliate RIAs into its employee-based RIA by acquiring a Carson Wealth office in Pittsburgh.
The group, which is led by Managing Partner and Wealth Advisor Neal McGrath, will add about $358 million in assets to Carson. McGrath first joined Carson in 2013 as its sixth partner office and brought a focus on estate and tax planning, as well as working with first-generation Americans as they look to build wealth and stability in the country.
In 2022, the team transitioned to Carson Wealth to work out of several locations in the Pittsburgh area and more than doubled its growth over the past three years.
“Neal’s growth story is a powerful example of what happens when entrepreneurial vision meets the right platform,” said Burt White, CEO of Carson Group.
Carson still has more than 100 partner offices and over 50 Carson Wealth locations in the U.S., even as it continues to bring firms into its complete ownership model.
