United Capital acquires $320 million AUM adviser

After embarking on a more aggressive, national growth strategy in August, United Capital has acquired a registered investment adviser with $320 million in client assets. The firm said Thursday it picked up Valley Wealth Inc., a Modesto, Calif.-based RIA founded in 2008, which is United Capital's third and largest acquisition so far this year. Valley Wealth brings United Capital to roughly $10.6 billion in assets under management. LOOKING FOR SCALE Valley Wealth co-founder Jeff Burrow said the firm began talking with United Capital last year as it was looking for a way to scale its business, which had grown to around 450 households. “Once you get to a certain capacity and a certain level, the amount of time you spend away from being a financial adviser and toward just running the business became, frankly, a nuisance,” Mr. Burrow said. “The idea was, 'Let's find a national version of Valley Wealth.'” Mr. Burrow and co-founder, Jason Gordo, will now be managing directors at United Capital. They exchanged their equity in Valley Wealth for stock in United Capital, Mr. Burrows said. They will also continue to run FlexScore, a company they founded that developed a program to study and engage clients' financial decision-making with hypothetical scenarios, separately. In April, United Capital became one of the first to license FlexScore's software. ON PACE In August, Joe Duran, the founder of United Capital, said that overall, he expected around 30% to 40% of growth at his firm to come from acquisitions. Matt Brinker, senior vice president, said Thursday that United Capital is on pace to meet its goal of five to seven acquisitions per year. The firm generally looks for firms with around $300 to $500 million in assets when making an acquisition of an established firm. “That's our sweet spot,” he said in an interview. In addition, Mr. Brinker said that the firm had added more than $1 billion so far this year from organic growth, including recruiting advisers into existing United Capital offices and bringing on new clients. With this addition, the firm has 49 offices.