Focus Financial teams up with top Chicago RIA

Focus Financial, one of the largest buyers of registered investment advisers, is beefing up its network of advisory firms. The company has acquired Strategic Wealth Partners, the No. 9-ranked wealth management firm in the Chicago area with $1.4 billion in assets under management. “Chicago is very attractive and Strategic Wealth Partners' track record shows tremendous potential,” said Rudy Adolf, CEO and founder of Focus. “They have a very strong client-centric business model and we want to help them grow as an entrepreneurial RIA.” Strategic Wealth Partners marks Focus Financial's second acquisition of a Chicago-based independent wealth management firm. In October 2012, the company partnered with Vestor Capital Partners. (More: Download the 2014 InvestmentNews Financial Performance Study of Advisory Firms) Overall, Focus Financial has completed 23 RIA and broker lift-out transactions this year, that have added approximately $4 billion in assets. By teaming up with Focus' other 32 partner firms, company executives at Strategic Wealth Partners believe the sharing of financial planning concepts and exposure to best practices for clients will foster more organic growth. “We will have more access to investment strategies to present to our clients and Focus will be able to flatten out the learning curve for us,” said David Copeland, co-founder of Strategic Wealth Partners. “There isn't a specific target that we are shooting for, but we believe we have a very attractive platform for our clients.”