SEI moves closer to full ownership of $37B hybrid RIA Stratos Wealth

Publicly-traded financial services giant SEI has completed the first stage of its investment in Stratos Wealth Holdings ahead of its planned full takeover of the hybrid wealth management firm with over $37 billion in client assets.

SEI paid $441 million in cash to close this stage, representing 81% of the total $544 million SEI has committed to pay for 57.5% of Stratos. The second stage of the transaction, which will see SEI acquire Stratos’ Mexico-based wealth business NSC, is expected to close in 2026.

Since its founding in 2008 by founder and CEO Jeff Concepcion, Ohio-headquartered Stratos has grown to 350 advisors across and roughly 150 locations across 29 states.  

“We want Jeff and the people that are part of Stratos to have a vested interest in the success of the firm for a long period of time,” SEI head of asset management Michael Lane, told InvestmentNews. “We have additional tranches where we will eventually end up with 100% interest, but for the next six years or so, the people that made Stratos who it is will be participating alongside us in the success and the growth of the firm. And once we get past that six-year period, there will be opportunities for the people that have been shareholders of Stratos to participate with SEI and be part of the larger family.”

SEI previously announced its majority acquisition of Stratos in July with serial RIA investor Emigrant Partners exiting the minority stake it had held in Stratos since 2020. Concepcion remains CEO of Stratos Wealth Partners, which operates Stratos Wealth Advisors as its pure RIA, and Stratos Wealth Partners is its hybrid RIA affiliated with LPL Financial. 

“SEI is making this investment in one firm, not in many firms. They have resources in a very, very different way than any private equity firm or any family office could have. You're talking about 1000s of employees who are embedded in various aspects of the wealth business,” said Concepcion. “We've seen some super talented folks that are wearing an SEI jersey today, that I'd like to see someday wearing a Stratos jersey tied to this portion of SEI's business. The fit is that good and the talent is that good.”

Both Concepcion and Lane said they view private equity’s arbitrage in the RIA market as an overall positive influence, but distinguished SEI as "permanent capital,” Lane said. 

“We aren't private equity firms, so our goal is not to acquire and then look to exit at some point in five years, seven years, 10 years,” said Lane. He added that SEI “prefers” to bring RIAs into the Stratos network rather than making future independent acquisitions.  

Stratos plans to invest in over a dozen advisory practices in early 2026. “I think 2026 will be leaps beyond anything that we've done before in terms of our growth,” he added. “There could be some very strategic opportunities for us to explore possibilities in Europe and elsewhere,” Conception said, with Lane also saying that SEI is keen to explore wealth opportunities in Europe. 

SEI Investments (NASDAQ: SEIC) is trading around $81.15 per share as of Friday, compared to around $89 per share on July 18 when it first announced its investment in Stratos. SEI said handles $1.8 trillion in total assets as of September 30.

“We typically hold $700 million in cash, we typically buy back anywhere from $500 to $700 million a year of stock, we pay a dividend, and we have no debt,” Lane said of SEI. “So we're a unique entity in that we have a phenomenal business, a robust balance sheet, and I don't think there's many partners [that could] bring the administrative and technology capabilities, investment management, and a balance sheet to help a firm like Stratos go out and continue to grow both organically as well as inorganically.”