Lynnfield, Massachusetts-based F.L.Putnam has extended its presence in New Hampshire with the acquisition of a Portsmouth-based indie RIA.
F.L. Putnam announced it has acquired Seascape Capital Management, adding more than $500 million in assets and pushing the firm's total assets under management past $11 billion.
The deal, which closed June 30, brings F.L.Putnam's client base to more than 3,000 and its advisor headcount above 50.
The transaction marks the 11th acquisition for the independent RIA, as well as the second time in as many years that the firm has moved to deepen its presence in New Hampshire's Seacoast region.
Seascape, founded in 2003, provides wealth and investment management services to high-net-worth individuals and families, working with business owners, high-income executives and retirees. The firm is led by CEO Monica McCarthy, supported by Andrew Litzerman and Christian "Chrissy" Sullivan.
The entire Seascape team has joined F.L.Putnam under the transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition – coming just a few months after FLP's expansion into the Midwest as it bought Arcadia Investment Management in Michigan – builds directly on groundwork F.L.Putnam laid less than a year earlier.
In October, the firm opened a Portsmouth office and hired two senior advisors, Thomas Burleigh and Michael Hanlon, in a move it described at the time as its 12th East Coast location.
The stake it planted in Portsmouth, the firm said, gives it a strategic position between its Maine and Massachusetts operations while complementing its existing office in Wolfeboro within New Hampshire's Lakes Region.
"A core part of our long-term growth strategy has been to expand FLP's presence in the communities where our clients live and work," said Tom Manning, CEO of F.L.Putnam. "The opening of our Portsmouth office last year marked an important step in that strategy, and it has quickly become one of our key growth markets in the Northeast."
The firm first entered New Hampshire in 2019 through its acquisition of Financial Focus, a roughly $275 million practice, which established its presence Wolfeboro.
In April 2024, the firm inked a deal to acquire Darwin Trust Co., a New Hampshire-chartered trust company, which added a new location in Nashua.
With Seascape now added, F.L.Putnam counts 24 employees across its Wolfeboro and Portsmouth offices alone.
McCarthy framed the deal with FLP as a continuation of Seascape's client-first approach, underscoring the "[expanded] breadth and depth of the services we provide while preserving the personalized approach and relationships our clients have come to expect over the past 23 years."
"From our very first conversations with Tom and his team, it was clear we share the same client-first philosophy and long-term approach to helping families preserve and grow their wealth," she added.
New EBRI research found workers who participated in employer financial education reported higher confidence, literacy and financial satisfaction.
Beyond operational excellence, the winning advisors of the future are the ones who can reach across multiple disciplines without discarding specialist skills.
The Investment Adviser Association, CFP Board, and the CFA Institute warn semiannual filings would widen information gaps and raise costs for advisors and clients.
Elsewhere, a Commonwealth team in Massachusetts converts to Cetera, while Janney draws four former Wells Fargo advisors to its Radnor, Pennsylvania office.
Clients say he copied the boss on his emails - and now they can't touch their cash.
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
Direct indexing is on pace to outgrow ETFs and mutual funds. Northern Trust's Ken Lassner explains why the advisors who get it wish they had started sooner.