Thrivent acquires $7 billion RIA Ronald Blue & Co.

Thrivent Financial, which manages and advises on $116.5 billion in assets, has acquired the assets of Ronald Blue & Co., an RIA firm in Atlanta managing $7 billion in assets. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The RIA firm will become a division of Thrivent Trust Company and serve clients with complex financial needs. Thrivent Trust will continue to provide trust and estate settlement services, as well as investment management, through its own representatives. The combined business will be known as Thrivent Trust Company until a new name is chosen. Its chief executive will be Nicholas Stonestreet, who headed Ronald Blue. The acquisition combines two organizations that share and espouse Christian values in investing and wealth management. Ronald Blue, founded in 1979, says it "integrates biblical principles into financial planning." Thrivent, based in Minneapolis, began as a fraternal benefit organization that provided insurance to Lutherans. It says it helps Christians build solid financial futures and strengthen their communities. Thrivent now serves more than 2.3 million members nationwide. (More: How judgment, experience and intuition factor into Thrivent's investment process) Thrivent said in a release that the acquisition enables Ronald Blue & Co. to transition to a trust company and provide its clients with enhanced services, while providing Thrivent's clients with access to Ronald Blue's experience and expertise in serving clients with complicated financial needs across generations.