The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the RIA space remains brisk, with three prominent firms – Waverly Advisors, Moneta, and Private Advisor Group –announcing new deals that expand their reach and underscore the ongoing drive for scale and specialization across the industry.
Waverly Advisors, based in Birmingham, Alabama, has acquired Brass Tax Wealth Management, a Blue Ash, Ohio-based firm led by the Schulte family.
The deal brings Waverly’s assets under management to nearly $20 billion and marks the firm’s twenty-fifth transaction since securing an equity investment from Wealth Partners Capital Group in late 2021.
The entire Brass Tax team will join Waverly, adding $465 million in assets and furthering the firm’s regional growth strategy.
Justin Russell, president and chief executive at Waverly, said the addition of Brass Tax “advances Waverly’s vision of becoming a world-class RIA.” He added that the two firms share a commitment to culture and client service, which he described as “essential to maintaining the collaborative environment at Waverly and elevating the client experience.”
Neal Schulte, founder of Brass Tax, noted that joining Waverly gives his team access to “enhanced technology and back-office capabilities,” allowing them to focus on delivering a more comprehensive client experience.
The deal, which closed September 12, reflects Waverly’s ongoing expansion in the Midwest, now with nine locations in Ohio. It also snaps a monthslong gap in Waverly's deal calendar, with its April acquisition of Florida-based Fiduciary Wealth Advisors being the last official entry.
Moneta, one of the largest partner-owned RIAs in the country, has merged with Lane Hipple Wealth Management Group, a New Jersey-based advisory with approximately $520 million in assets under management as of mid-September.
The move extends Moneta’s reach beyond its St. Louis headquarters to a growing list of cities, including Denver, Kansas City, Boston, Chicago, and Boulder, while simultaneously pushing its total assets past $42 billion.
Tom Lane, III, of Lane Hipple, said the team considered several options for growth, including RIAs backed with PE money, but ultimately chose Moneta for its focus on people and long-term sustainability.
"Some of the first conversations we had were with private equity-backed firms,” Lane said. “While they offered attractive financial terms, something didn’t sit right. Those discussions felt transactional – focused more on dollars than on people.”
A recent survey by AdvizorPro found PE firms are shifting their attention from massive aggregators to smaller regional firms, where the potential for growth through scaling has yet to be squeezed out.
Moneta’s chief executive, Eric Kittner, described Lane Hipple as the kind of partner the firm seeks – advisors who “put clients first, value independence, and are committed to building relationships that last.”
The firm’s expansion has been driven by teams seeking both autonomy and access to a national platform, with assets nearly tripling over the past decade.
On Wednesday, Private Advisor Group, a major OSJ and LPL affiliate, has announced that Artemis Wealth Advisors, its Troy, Michigan-based affiliate, has merged with Adam Weiner’s Freedom Financial Team.
The merger, effective September 1, brings Artemis’ total assets under management to $386 million, a more than 20% increase driven by the addtion of more than $70 million in AUM from Weiner's practice.
Andrew Wilson and Cameron Staley, co-leaders of Artemis, said the merger would allow the combined team to “accelerate growth, and deliver even greater value for our clients.”
Weiner, a Navy SEAL veteran who founded Freedom Financial Team in 2022, said the partnership provides “a tremendous value add for my clients as I tap into Artemis’ decades of collective expertise in portfolio management and financial planning.”
The combined team will operate under the Artemis Wealth Advisors brand, with Weiner stepping in as managing partner and his colleague Faith Ferguson joining as director of operations. John Ursu and Christopher Dzinklinski, who co-founded Freedom Financial alongside Weiner and Staley, are also stepping into managing partner roles at Artemis.
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