Two independent advisers managing $350 million join Focus Financial-based firm in Mass.

Two independent financial advisers managing $350 million have joined a Focus Financial Partners-backed firm in the wealthy Berkshires Mountains area of Massachusetts, the chief executive of the firm, Atlas Private Wealth Management, said Tuesday. Atlas chief executive Gregory Britton said that the advisers, Donald Carman and Michael Hickey, bring more than three decades of experience in financial and tax planning apiece to his Williamstown, Mass.-based firm, which is an hour's drive from New York's state capital, Albany. “What this is going to help us to do as an organization is to provide the scale to get to the next level,” said Mr. Britton, alluding to securities research and technology investments that the firm can now more easily make. Mr. Carman and Mr. Hickey are dissolving their previous independent firm, Albany Financial Planners Inc. The deal closed this month. Details of the transaction weren't disclosed. “We looked at what the future of the firm would be and how we could best serve clients,” said Mr. Hickey, who said that his firm had also been approached by other firms interested in a deal. “One of the things in addition to being able to work with Greg and his team is that Focus allows the offices to run independently.” Atlas, which was previously known as Dion Money Management, was acquired by the then-new Focus in 2007. Now Atlas manages $1 billion for its clients. Focus chief executive Ruediger "Rudy" Adolf said last week that he expected that the firm would be swift in making deals this year, having secured $550 million in credit from a dozen financiers for possible transactions.