Wealth Enhancement extends acquisition streak with Washington state deal

Wealth Enhancement has added another registered investment advisor to its growing roster, announcing this week that it has acquired the investment advisory business of Weinand Financial.

The deal to acquire the independent firm based in Olympia, Washington, that manages more than $644 million in client assets brings Wealth Enhancement's total client assets to more than $160.7 billion. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Weinand Financial was founded in 1991 and is led by Mike Weinand, a certified financial planner, alongside a team of four support professionals. The firm has built its practice around retirement and investment planning, pension review for private and public plans, and insurance guidance, with particular depth in helping Washington State employees navigate pension and retirement benefits.

"We've spent more than three decades building Weinand Financial around the needs of our clients, and we were very intentional about what the next chapter should look like," Weinand said in a statement on Tuesday. "Wealth Enhancement gives us the ability to bring more resources to the table without losing the personal relationships that have defined our firm."

Wealth Enhancement chief executive Jeff Dekko said the acquisition reflects the durability of the practice Weinand has built.

"Mike has built a long-standing practice grounded in trusted client relationships," Dekko said. "We're excited to welcome them to Wealth Enhancement and support the next chapter of the practice."

Jim Cahn, the firm's chief strategy officer, said the deal deepens Wealth Enhancement's foothold in the Pacific Northwest, calling the addition of Weinand's retirement-planning expertise a meaningful complement to the company's regional capabilities.

The Weinand deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions staged by the Minnesota-based mega-RIA this summer. In late July, Wealth Enhancement made its Alabama debut by acquiring Cloud Investments, a Huntsville-based firm managing roughly $462 million in assets and built largely around clients tied to the region's aerospace and defense sector. Days later, it added Miramar Capital, a Northbrook, Illinois firm overseeing about $592 million in assets under the leadership of dividend-growth investors Bob Kalman and Max Wasserman.

Nearly all of that expansion has come through acquiring independent advisory practices rather than organic growth – a strategy that has taken the firm wildly beyond the $11.8 billion in client assets it oversaw when TA Associates first invested in 2019. 

That exponential growth appears to be turning heads among even bigger names in the private equity space. Last month, reports arose of a PE bidding war to acquire Wealth Enhancement, with Carlyle Group and Bain Capital reported to be the final contenders in a process valuing it at roughly $7 billion including debt. That deal, if it comes to fruition, would rank among the largest ever struck involving an independent RIA platform.