Focus Financial Partners is acquiring Alley Co., a Lake Forest, Illinois-based advisory firm with $585 million in client assets.
Founded in 1998, Alley specializes in separate account investment management, customizing and managing proprietary investment portfolios and providing asset allocation advice to its clients.
The firm will continue to be led by Steve Alley, Rik Duryea and Tom Van Vuren once the deal is completed before the end of the year.
"As we got to know Focus, we were drawn to joining a partnership that values the entrepreneurial independence of RIAs, and also offers the resources to help us expand our business and serve our clients even better,” founder Steve Alley said in a statement.
“Having Focus by our side as a true strategic partner creates a competitive advantage for us as we position ourselves for further growth, while at the same time ensuring the continuity of our business over the long term,” he added.
Focus founder and Chief Executive Rudy Adolf described Alley as a “premier independent wealth manager with a dynamic, multi-generational principal group that has a strong record of growth making it a leading firm in the Midwest.”
“The firm's expertise in structuring highly customized portfolios for its clients will add complementary investment management capabilities to our partnership,” he added.
RIA aggregators like Focus Financial have seen rapid growth over the past decade, fueled in large part by private equity managers seeking the stable 25% to 35% returns of well managed wealth management firms.
The "Crypto Mom" departure would leave the SEC commission with just two members and no Democratic commissioners on the panel.
IFP Securities’ owner, Bill Hamm, has a long-term plan for the firm and its 279 financial advisors.
Meanwhile, a Osaic and Envestnet ink a new adaptive wealthtech partnership to better support the firm's 10,000-plus advisors, and RIA-focused VastAdvisor unveils native integrations with leading CRMs.
A former Alabama investment advisor and ex-Kestra rep has been permanently barred and penalized after clients he promised to protect got caught in a $2.6 million fraud.
As more active strategies get packaged into the ETF wrapper, advisors and investors have to look beyond expense ratios as the benchmark for value.
Wellington explores how multi strategy hedge funds may enhance diversification
As technical expertise becomes increasingly commoditized, advisors who can integrate strategy, relationships, and specialized expertise into a cohesive client experience will define the next era of wealth management