Merchant-backed Concurrent debuts minority investing program for smaller RIAs

Florida-based hybrid RIA Concurrent Investment Advisors has launched RIA Capital Partners to take minority stakes in RIAs, targeting firms in the $200 million to $500 million AUM range.

RIA Capital Partners has made two initial minority investments in the Houston-based Post Oak Wealth Partners ($250 million AUM) and Seattle-based Oliver Capital Management ($450 million AUM). Concurrent co-founder and CEO Nate Lenz says he hopes for RIA Capital Partners to reach stakes in five firms by the end of this year to fill a void in the existing minority investment landscape that prioritizes stakes in larger-sized RIAs.

“The traditional minority investors in the space typically aren't investing in individual practices, they're investing in larger scale enterprises, so what we really saw was a gap,” Lenz said. “A lot of those firms were playing in the billion-plus [range]. I was actually on a panel with Mark Bruno [of Emigrant Partners] last week, and he mentioned their average firm [AUM] I think is $6 billion.”

Existing firms that target minority investments in RIAs include Emigrant Partners, Hightower, Constellation Wealth Capital, Wealth Partners Capital Group, Rise Growth Partners, and Merchant, which itself made a minority investment in Concurrent in 2021. Merchant has invested in over 100 RIAs with a collective $230 billion in assets. RIA Capital Partners will “expand the reach of the Merchant ecosystem” into the smaller RIA space, Lenz said.

“One of the things that I think has made this really successful so far is our relationship with Merchant, because there have been bilateral introductions,” he said. “If we encounter an RIA that is a better fit for a direct Merchant investment, we have no hesitation in sending that over to Merchant. And vice versa if they have an RIA that wouldn't necessarily qualify for a direct investment, but could be a great cultural fit, or someone that we can bring a lot of value to, Merchant will refer that over to us.”

More than 70 affiliated firms have joined Concurrent, which Lenz says is now over $12 billion in AUM after adding $2.5 billion through recruiting so far this year and plans to add another $2.5 billion by the end of 2025. The RIA Capital Partners allows third-party RIAs to keep their own form ADV and custodian partnerships while receiving Concurrent’s minority capital and resources for growth, succession, compliance, branding, and potential M&A. For example, Mark Oliver’s $450M RIA Oliver Capital Capital Management hopes to scale to $1 billion in assets.

“If we have teams that are nearing retirement and are looking to access additional liquidity, we're more than willing to upsize our investment in those practices. Another opportunity that we've seized to upsize our investment is in acquisitions,” Lenz said. “So if an advisor is looking at acquiring a practice, and we can come in alongside them to potentially upsize our investment but then subsidize the purchase through the equity capital we're bringing to the table, that can be a great way for the acquiring advisor to take less risk.”

Concurrent was established in 2017 and restructured itself as a hybrid RIA in 2023 after previously operating on the Raymond James platform. Concurrent employs over 130 advisors and has custodian relationships with Fidelity, Schwab and Goldman Sachs. The new RIA Capital Partners is envisioned to in part be a funnel for advisors whose firms receive minority capital to eventually fully join Concurrent.

“I think that in a lot of cases, that is their long term plan but for whatever reason it may not make sense for them to do so out of the gate,” Lenz said. “I do think our best opportunity to serve advisors ultimately, is on our core platform. There's no requirement for these firms to do so, but as we continue to scale our business I do think there will be certain situations where it is advantageous for those firms to fold down their ADV and jump onto ours to get further operating leverage out of the relationship.”