Carson Group welcomes $1.76B Wells Fargo team in New Hampshire expansion

Carson Group is welcoming a breakaway team from Wells Fargo, extended its footprint in New Hampshire while continuing its aggressive acquisition pace in 2026.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based firm said it has added Doyle and Loughman Wealth Management to its network of affiliated advisory practices, bringing in approximately $1.76 billion in advisory and brokerage assets from a team formerly affiliated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network.

The deal, which gives Carson its second location in Hanover, New Hampshire, marks the latest success in its broader strategy of courting independent practices that want scale and technology without giving up their client relationships or firm identity.

Apart from being its largest wealth-focused transaction announced to date, Doyle and Loughman Wealth Management is Carson's second billion-dollar partnership this year, following Jackson Wealth in Florida last month.

Founded by Managing Partners Brian Doyle and Stephen Loughman, the practice has built its reputation serving multigenerational families through proactive planning and long-standing community ties.

The team also includes wealth advisors Bradley Michalchuk and Kristen Laundry, along with seven operations support staff. It has developed a particular expertise supporting high-net-worth families, including women investors and clients navigating generational wealth transfers.

"Advisors today are looking for more than a capital partner," said Burt White, chief executive of Carson Group. "They want a platform that helps them serve increasingly complex client needs, accelerate growth and build an enduring business for the next generation, without sacrificing the culture and relationships that made them successful in the first place."

Framing the move in similar terms, Doyle said the move would let his team "remain the firm our clients know and trust while significantly expanding the resources available to them."

Loughman added that Carson's platform would help the firm "strengthen that foundation for the families we serve" while growing in a way that stays true to its values.

Under the arrangement, the Doyle and Loughman team gains access to Carson's advanced planning, investment management, tax and estate planning resources, along with the firm's Private Client Services offerings, marketing support and back-office infrastructure.

Read more: Carson Group bets on estate planning to lock in clients across generations

Michael Belluomini, senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Carson Group, said the Doyle and Loughman relationship developed well before any transaction was on the table.

"We recognized the strength of Steve, Brian and their team early on, stayed close and earned their trust by demonstrating the value of partnering with Carson," Belluomini said.

The transaction lands amid what several industry trackers describe as a record year for wealth management dealmaking. Based on the latest tracking from Echelon Partners, Carson Wealth ranked among the most active RIA acquirers in the second quarter of 2026, completing six deals worth roughly $2.16 billion in acquired assets.

Across the first half of 2026, Carson Group led all dealmakers with 12 transactions, though nine of those were internal consolidations rather than outside acquisitions, according to Berkshire Global Advisors' midyear M&A report.

Read more: RIA consolidators say they want big firms — but keep buying small ones

The broader RIA M&A market has also accelerated. US wealth management dealmaking is on pace for record annual activity in 2026, defined by a mix of large platform acquisitions and steady smaller tuck-ins, according to Berkshire Global Advisors' analysis. Among the trends driving that activity, it pointed to incoming advisor succession decisions, rising compliance costs and growing client demand for coordinated, tech-enabled advice, as well as high external valuations making internal transitions hard to complete.

"The recapitalization cycle is also influencing buyer behavior," the report added. "Firms preparing for recapitalizations or strategic transactions often have an incentive to demonstrate continued growth, increase EBITDA, add capabilities and show that their acquisition engines remain productive."