Buffalo Bills owner backs startup targeting independent advisory firms

Terry Pegula built an oil and gas fortune before forging a U.S. sports empire that includes football and ice hockey teams in Buffalo, New York.

The owner of the NFL’s Bills and NHL’s Sabres is now betting on the business of managing money for other members of the world’s super-rich as he looks to broaden his investments.

Pegula, 71, is backing Bison Wealth, which provides back-office support for a consortium of independent advisory firms in exchange for a share of their revenues.

The Atlanta-based firm, which launched this year, struck its first major deal in May with a Florida-based team of Merrill Lynch veterans. It aims for the groups in its network to eventually manage about $40 billion, according to Chief Executive Chuck Rice.

“My main goal for the family is to take this from its small footprint based in Atlanta to having a major presence,” Rice, 57, a former executive with Morgan Stanley’s wealth unit, said in an interview. “We have seven to eight really high-quality teams in the pipeline right now.”

Pegula, who has a net worth of $7.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is ramping up efforts to diversify his family’s fortune. He founded natural gas exploration and production firm East Resources in 1983 and sold most of its assets to Royal Dutch Shell Plc for $4.7 billion in cash in 2010. An ice hockey enthusiast, Pegula acquired the Sabres the following year for $189 million and the Bills for $1.4 billion in 2014.

The wealth firm is part of Bison Holdings, which was created by Pegula’s family office and also includes companies offering insurance products and exchange-traded fund strategies. Rice joined from Lakeview Capital Partners, which was acquired by Pegula’s holding company in December and rebranded as Bison Wealth. Lakeview had about $550 million in assets under management at the time the deal was completed.

“It’s incredibly patient capital,” Rice said about Bison’s ownership. “It’s a blessing.

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In May, Bison Wealth reached an agreement with QTR Family Wealth, an Orlando-based team that oversees about $1 billion of client assets and liabilities. Rice said he’s looking to partner with similar-sized firms, whose clients are often wealthy business owners looking to sell their companies.

“We’re looking at probably at 100 to 125 full senior advisers by about the time we’re done,” he said. “We’ll take our time finding the right people.”

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