Focus Financial adds $585 million Alley Co. to its ranks

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.