Focus Financial Partners Inc., a leading aggregator of registered investment advisers, had a blistering first half of acquisitions, with 17 RIA transactions closed or pending in the first seven months of 2021, according to its second quarter earnings released Thursday morning.
That pace of mergers and acquisitions, which Focus Financial breaks into two categories of "partner firms" and "mergers," would come close to matching 34 deals in 2019, according to the company, its best on record. In 2017, 2018 and 2020. Focus Financial Partners completed 25 such deals.
Partner firms are acquisitions and under the roof of Focus Financial while mergers are deals completed by the Focus partner firm satellites.
And Focus Financial sees no letdown in the future for M&A activity. There are close to 1,000 firms in the United States that could become partner firms and 5,000 firms that could become merger targets, according to a company presentation.
"Every time a market leader joins us, it not only strengthens our partnership and expands our global footprint, but also further validates the attractiveness of our value proposition," said Rudy Adolf, founder and CEO, in a statement. "As a result, our M&A pipeline is at record levels and continues to build, positioning us for strong growth and the creation of meaningful incremental and sustainable value for our shareholders.”
Adolf said in February he saw no slowdown to the red hot RIA M&A marketplace. Meanwhile, the firm also recently raised $800 million to fund its M&A pipeline, according to the company.
The firms Focus Financial acquires keep their own brand and may even use the mothership as a bank for their own deals.
The company reported for the three months ending in June total revenues of $425.4 million, 35.8% year over year growth, and net income of $5.2 million compared to $3.3 million for the same period last year.
A $141M judgment and a federal asset freeze collide over one shrinking pool
The firm's CFO and EVP of Wealth Management Solutions are the latest executives to exit the broker-dealer.
Clients are saying they would consider switching advisors if another professional offered estate planning services, according to a new Trust & Will survey.
CEO Laurel Taylor says the fintech's composable AI stack helps workers optimize dollars across Trump Accounts, 529s, 401(k)s, and other employee benefits.
The bank has swiped three private banking veterans from BNY as the city climbs the ranks of America's fastest-growing wealth hubs.
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.
