United Capital does another deal

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC on Wednesday announced the acquisition of the majority of assets from c5 Wealth Management, a full-service RIA based outside of Washington, D.C. On the heels of last week's acquisition of the assets from Georgia-based PPA Advisors Inc, the deal marks the continued effort of United Capital to expand its East Coast network of private wealth counseling partnerships. Founders of c5, Paul Bennett and Stanley Corey, will continue to oversee the firm's $300 million in assets under advisement in the capacity of managing directors. The two openly embraced the opportunity to grow their business while reducing the amount of time the spend on administration. “By reducing our back-end office needs, we will have more time to connect with clients,” Bennett said. “Even more, we gain the ability to scale up the business in an efficient manner while still providing customized advice for each client.” Beyond the boost in technical capacity the partnership brings to c5, executives at both firms emphasized the shared commitment to sound, unbiased wealth management advice. United Capital was particularly impressed with c5's “myopic focus on becoming a regionally dominant firm,” said Matt Brinker, Senior Vice President, Partner Development and Acquisitions at United, “but cultural alignment is our number one priority.” “We sell advice with the space between our ears as opposed to selling products,” Bennett said. “United espouses the same philosophical approach.”