Aspiriant to buy Deloitte Investment Advisors, form $7B wealth manager

Wealth management firm Aspiriant LLC said today it has agreed to buy Deloitte Investment Advisors LLC, a unit of accounting firm Deloitte LLP with 450 clients and $2.9 billion in assets under advisement. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in mid-September, were not disclosed. San Francisco-based Aspiriant has more than $4 billion in assets under management; the combined firm will have about $7 billion in assets under advisement, according to Aspiriant's chief executive Rob Francais. The deal was a good fit for Aspiriant and Deloitte, said Mr. Francais, who added that he and at least two other Aspiriant executives are former partners at Deloitte. Aspiriant already provides services to many clients of Deloitte, he said. “We're cut from the same cloth,” Mr. Francais said in an interview. The acquisition also fits with Mr. Francais' strategy of expanding nationally. “It's a giant step forward for us,” he said, “in expanding our presence geographically, and expanding our talent, our capabilities, and aggregating client assets.” In December, Mr. Francais told InvestmentNews that he was looking to expand the firm. He had assumed the CEO post in November from advisory pioneer Tim Kochis. Aspiriant was formed in January 2008, the result of a merger between Kochis Fitz Tracy Fitzhugh & Gott Inc. and Quintile Wealth Management. Deloitte Investment Advisors has locations in New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, and about 40 employees who handle investment advice and research. Deloitte Investment Advisors, which falls under Deloitte's private client services, does not sell any investment products, but provides investment advice for a fee, using separate accounts, mutual funds and ETFs. Deloitte will keep the other parts of its private client services business, including family office services and tax and estate planning services. “We determined that divesting Deloitte Investment Advisors is in the best interest of DIA, our professionals and our clients,” said Chet Wood, chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte Tax LLP, in a press release. “As part of the Aspiriant organization, the business will have greater latitude for growth through offering additional services and pursuing its own marketplace interests.” In recent years, other big four accounting firms have exited the investment advice business, due to onerous regulations and potential conflicts of interest, Mr. Francis noted. “It's not every day that you get an opportunity to partner with an organization you're so familiar with,” Mr. Francais said. “It's a unique opportunity. You have a seller who wants to exit the business, and is looking for the right firm to make the transition.”