Mariner looks to Orizon for next acquisition

Mariner Wealth Advisors has made its second acquisition this year with the addition of the wealth management division of Omaha-based Orizon Investment Counsel LLC. Mariner, one of a number of RIA firms on the prowl for acquisitions, is taking a majority stake in Orizon. The deal was announced on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed. Orizon's investment unit has four advisers and 10 staffers who manage $300 million. Employees of Orizon will remain in Omaha, but work under the Mariner Wealth Advisors brand. The Orizon acquisition is "very similar to [other] deals we do on the wealth management side, where we're looking for [advisers who] want to be practitioners" more than business people, said Martin Bicknell, chief executive of Mariner, which is based in Kansas. "We can take all the other noise off their plates," he said. Orizon Investment's parent, Orizon Group Inc., provides accounting and business consulting services. It will retain a "small minority stake" in the Orizon wealth management unit, Mr. Bicknell said, and focus on its core tax and accounting business. In January, Mariner Wealth acquired a majority interest in Adams Hall Asset Management of Tulsa, Okla., which manages about $1.3 billion. Adams Hall retained its name. Mariner Wealth, with 44 advisers, manages about $3.8 billion. Its holding company, Mariner Holdings, runs another $10 billion under its institutional money manager unit, Montage Investments LLC, best known for its family of Tortoise MLP funds.