Buckingham snaps up two more RIAs

Buckingham Strategic Wealth is buying two registered investment advisers with a total of about $344 million in assets under management, the companies announced Tuesday.

Buckingham has struck deals to acquire Indian Harbour Beach, Florida-based Baldwin & Associates and Chesterfield, Missouri-based GreenCourse Financial Advisors. Baldwin managed about $155 million in client assets as of Feb. 4, and GreenCourse managed about $189 million as of December, according to their Form ADVs.

The deals represent Buckingham's fourth and fifth acquisitions this year, Chair Justin Ferri said. In May, the firm announced an agreement to buy Morgan Hill, California-based RNP Advisory Services, which had about $424 million in assets under management.

“They share our common values. They want to provide the best service and help as many people as possible,” Ferri said in an interview.

Buckingham Strategic Wealth and Strategic Partners, the latter of which includes independent advisers, oversaw more than $51 billion in assets as of the end of June, according to the firm.

The all-female adviser team at Baldwin is expected to join St. Louis, Missouri-based Buckingham in the fourth quarter, when the transaction is completed, according to the announcement. Baldwin was founded by Mary Baldwin in 1997.

“Buckingham is a natural fit for our clients and our team because of our emphasis on holistic financial planning, our fiduciary philosophy and our client-first firm culture,” Baldwin said in the announcement. “Joining a nationally recognized firm with industry leaders in evidenced-based investment, compliance and back office support will enable us to have more time to focus on our clients as we help them achieve their goals.”

GreenCourse CEO Dale Lindhorst said in the announcement that the firms shared investment and planning philosophies.

“We foresee a seamless transition for our seven-member financial planning and wealth management team, and our client base, which will now have access to all the resources of a large, nationally recognized firm,” Lindhorst said.

The GreenCourse acquisition is also slated to close during the fourth quarter.

Both deals resulted from discussions that started last year, Ferri said. The timing of the acquisitions has not been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, he said. However, the lack of in-person meetings has made it difficult to get first impressions in new engagements for prospective acquisitions, he noted. The company also has a pipeline of acquisition targets, despite the challenges in the current environment, he said.

“There is no substitute for getting to know folks face-to-face,” he said. “We have to quickly pivot and heavily lean on, in some cases, unproven technologies.”

But the pandemic has provided an opportunity to test remote capabilities, some of which Buckingham will keep in place even after the world returns to normal, Ferri said.