Accelerated Wealth Partners strikes staking deal for $5B Pallas Capital

Accelerated Wealth Partners has agreed to invest in Pallas Capital Advisors, a Massachusetts-domiciled registered investment advisor, marking the New York-based firm’s latest bet on fast-growing independent wealth managers.

AWP has signed definitive agreements with Pallas, which reports $5 billion in assets across a client base of corporate executives, business owners and their families. The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to customary closing conditions.

The firms didn’t disclose financial terms or the size of AWP’s stake in the announcement of the deal, though it did reveal that ownership would be spread beyond Pallas' founders to now make five of the firm's leaders – Joe Cullen, James Landry, Eric Lalime, Andrew Krout and Athol Cochrane – equity partners. That move, the firms said, links the next generation of leadership to Pallas’ long-term performance and sets up continuity and succession.

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Rich Mullen, Greg Boyle and Charlie Evangelakos founded Pallas in 2019 after decades of advising wealthy families at large financial institutions. They will continue to lead the firm, and Pallas will keep its brand, culture and client experience. AWP will contribute growth capital and give Pallas access to its organic growth and M&A resources.

“We have known and trusted the AWP team for years, and when we decided to bring in a partner, there was never any question about who it would be,” said Mullen, Pallas’ founding partner and CEO. “Our ambition is to be the national leader in ultra-high-net-worth wealth management, and our planning capability is what sets us apart. This partnership gives us the resources to pursue that ambition with real conviction while staying true to who we are."

An ultra-high-net-worth planning play

Pallas combines tax, trust, estate and financial planning for clients with complicated balance sheets. Its work includes managing concentrated stock positions, liquidity events, business transitions and the transfer of wealth across generations. Besides its Braintree headquarters, the firm has offices in Wakefield, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Eric Amar, who founded AWP after a stint as chief growth officer at Focus Financial Partners, said he sees room for Pallas to compete nationally at the top of the market.

“Rich, Greg, and Charlie have built something rare: a firm that pairs the planning depth of a top-tier private bank with the agility and personal attention of an independent advisor," Amar said. "Their clients are executives and entrepreneurs with some of the most complex financial lives in the country, and Pallas delivers for them every day."

Read more: Accelerated Wealth Partners eyes 5 or 6 RIA investments: 'Not trying to be Focus 2.0'

Accelerated Wealth Partners’ 2026 deal run

AWP is backed by a $200 million capital commitment from private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. Describing its role as a growth support and M&A execution specialist, AWP has notched a handful of deals this year that kep founders in charge and retained the partner firm's brand.

In March, AWP announced a strategic investment in RIA Advisors, a Houston wealth manager led by partners Connie Mack, Lance Roberts, Richard Rosso and Danny Ratliff. The stated aim was to build the firm into a leading destination for high-net-worth families in Texas and to add tax, trust and estate services to its planning and investment offering.

Two months later in May, AWP took a strategic minority stake in Brooklyn Fi, a firm that co-founders Ally Jane “AJ” Ayers and Shane Mason built with a focus on tech employees, founders and creatives faced with the complexities of IPOs, tender offers, secondaries and other equity compensation events. Brooklyn Fi serves more than 500 households nationwide from a fully remote platform.

Those two deals were enough to land AWP among Fidelity's list of most active minority investors during the first half of 2026, a leaderboard that also included Elevation Point, Emigrant Partners, and Merchant Investment Management.

AWP's inorganic growth strategy is poised to ramp up in the months ahead following its appointment of Josh Bronfman, another ex-Focus Financial leader, as managing director of M&A and investments.

"Scale in this business is built on talent, and lasting talent is built on shared values," Amar said of Bronfman in a statement announcing the hire. "He has spent years inside the RIA M&A engine at Focus, he understands what makes these firms exceptional, and he shares the values that define how we work with founders."