Mega-RIA Hightower has launched Hightower Signature Wealth in what the company describes as a new “national direct-to-consumer advisory practice.” The consolidation move marks a new strategic phase from Hightower under Larry Restieri, who began as CEO in June of this year.
Restieri previously spent 25 years at Goldman Sachs, running the firm’s Ayco wealth planning business that served corporate executive clients. His appointment at Hightower came in succession to Bob Ouros, who had been CEO since 2019 before stepping down in February. Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners is the majority shareholder in Hightower, which manages $325 billion in assets and is one of the RIA industry’s most prolific acquirers.
“The firm [Hightower] is ready for its next stage of growth," said Restieri. "When I talked to the private equity backers, and I still talk to Bob Ouros - I literally have a call with him every month - I think even Bob recognized he was great at that last stage, which was growing and acquiring firms. This next phase is more about deep operational expertise.”
The first firm to join Hightower Signature Wealth is Dallas-based Frontier Investment Management, which managed $3.3 billion when it was acquired by Hightower in 2020. Frontier has changed its name to Hightower Signature Wealth, and its transition to the new channel will consolidate further marketing, operations, technology, and investment management support led by Stephanie Link, who is Hightower's chief investment strategist and a popular CNBC contributor.
“When we created Hightower Signature Wealth, the idea was we have a great brand in the advisor community, let's create a great brand at the end consumer. Stephanie [Link] is on TV literally three days a week, let's figure out a way to kind of take advantage of that and of her celebrity to help drive clients to Hightower,” said Restieri.
“I think that what's nice about the model with Hightower Signature Wealth is we can really partner with almost any size firm,” Restieri said. “Especially on an acquisition side, smaller firms which probably would have been too small for us on an independent basis, because now we have an infrastructure that can support that team, it widens the aperture for who we could acquire because we can probably do more small deals than we've done historically.”
While speaking at a media event Tuesday evening in New York City hosted by Hightower, Restieri described Signature Wealth to include a central onboarding platform, portfolio management and investment infrastructure, billing, and performance reporting. He also said that Signature Wealth will enable Hightower to broaden its RIA targets in M&A transactions.
“This really widens the aperture of the types of firms we can buy because if you look at the market over the last few years, a lot of firms have been joining more conforming-type models. This allows us to play in that space, in addition to the traditional independent space that we've done,” Restieri said. “One of the big issues facing RIAs in general right now is succession, what happens from G1 to G2. This creates a great vehicle for us to help manage that. We can work with teams where G1 may want to retire, we can get G2 going.”
The advisor succession aspect of Hightower Signature Wealth was echoed by Hightower's chief strategy officer Scott Holsopple, who leads the firm’s M&A business. “A lot more firms are looking for, how do I plug into a larger business so that I can articulate to my team what their career path is in a much more defined way, so that the people in the business don't necessarily have to take the business forward? They can play a key role [as] the technical experts, but maybe not have to run the firm as well,” said Holsopple.
“This opens up the pathway to talk to our traditional partner who does want that independence, but also the folks that want a more common experience. So it just opens up the M&A opportunity,” Holsopple added.
Hightower’s move to consolidate brand identity and operations for the firms it acquires under Signature Wealth is part of a broader trend in the RIA industry being pushed by the biggest private-equity backed aggregators, Corey Kupfer of the RIA M&A law firm Kupfer told InvestmentNews.
“I believe that private equity investors are going to continue to push firms in this direction as single-brand more integrated models create more efficiencies, ease of scale, and enterprise value,” said Kupfer. “I would expect the push in terms of [Hightower’s] M&A focus and growth plan to be on this Signature Wealth model as again, I believe that is what the PE firms are pushing for. Considering most advisors only have 3-4% annual organic growth rates excluding market, being able to market a national brand can help with organic growth, which then increases enterprise value of firms over time.”
Kupfer added that advisors not interested in Signature Wealth or similar models might feel that “this level of integration and loss of brand and control reminds them of what they moved away from at the wirehouses and private banks.”
Kupfer says Hightower Signature Wealth resembles acquisition models from Creative Planning, Focus Financial, Mercer, and Wealth Enhancement Group.
“Whether you look at the evolution of the models of firms like Focus Financial from a more aggregated, separate brand, more independent model to doing internal buyouts of their partner firms into hub firms that have been rebranded with the Focus brand, or you look at the success and growth of more integrated single-brand firms like Creative Planning, Mercer and WEG, this seems to be the trend," Kupfer said. "Even at Hightower itself, they have already completed many internal purchases, although to date those firms have generally retained their own branding."
Several more firms are expected to join Hightower Signature Wealth by the end of Q1 2026, with Restieri expecting additions as early as January.
“Advisors are becoming more open to these models. There are still many who want to maintain their own brand and more independence over how to service clients, that used to be a non-negotiable for most advisors while now the percentage of advisors demanding that has decreased,” said Kupfer. “The fact that Hightower is making this an option and is still also maintaining its existing model provides optionality for advisors wanting to join them.”
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