Wealthspire's Ground Control targets UK golf market with Arena Wealth deal

Wealthspire is eyeing further growth across the pond as its business management division acquires a US-based firm serving a specialized sports-focused niche.

Ground Control Business Management has acquired Arena Wealth, a U.K.-based business management firm that specializes in serving professional golfers, marking its second overseas transaction in less than two years

Founded by Philip Barker, Arena Wealth provides bill pay, bookkeeping, invoicing, credit control, and tax consulting to professional golfers navigating multi-jurisdictional income streams – tournament earnings, sponsorship contracts, appearance fees, and performance bonuses – across borders.

The London-based firm will rebrand to Ground Control following completion of the deal, with Barker retaining a leadership role and all 15 employees joining the expanded platform under U.K. President Nick Parkinson.

"Arena Wealth has established a thoughtful, highly focused practice around the needs of professional golfers, and that kind of specialization matters in business management," said Chris Bucci, chief executive officer of Ground Control Business Management. "Philip and his team bring a deep understanding of their clients' world, and that strengthens our platform at Ground Control."

For Barker, the partnership offers access to Ground Control's infrastructure and resources while preserving the client relationships his team has built within the international golf community.

"We've built our business around understanding our clients' day-to-day realities, and it was important to find a partner who approaches that work the same way," said Barker, who highlighted the "addtional depth and experience" Ground Control brings to the new partnership.

Ground Control's growing UK footprint

The Arena Wealth transaction marks Ground Control's second U.K. acquisition, following its October 2024 purchase of Clay GBP, another business management firm with expertise in supporting clients with complex, cross-border financial needs.

Ground Control sits within Wealthspire's five-division structure, which was formalized in November following Wealthspire's completed sale to Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. At the time, Wealthspire's combined platform represented approximately $580 billion in assets across businesses operating in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

"Now we have the opportunity to put those businesses front and center, as opposed to having their story be  blocked by the overall narrative of our parent companies being insurance brokerage agents," Wealthspire CEO Michael LaMena told InvestmentNews in the wake of that deal. "Rather than our story being lost in that arc of insurance brokerage, now we have the ability to highlight to the industry and our clients the full breadth of capabilities that we possess."

Read more: $580B RIA Wealthspire builds out C-suite following PE-backed unification

A crowded race for UK and European market share

Wealthspire's move into the U.K. market through Ground Control reflects a pattern playing out across a wide swath of U.S.-based RIAs and wealth management platforms, which have increasingly turned to cross-border acquisitions

Read more: RIA expansion goes global

According to Echelon Partners' first-quarter 2026 RIA M&A deal report, cross-border activity emerged as one of the defining themes of the opening months of the year, with U.S. acquirers accelerating their overseas push in search of markets where valuations may be lower than at home. That includes Creative Planning's January purchase of Swiss RIA Baseline Wealth Management, and its March acquisition of U.K.-based MASECO.

The trend was already well underway last year, with Echelon's full-year 2025 report identifying Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand as the primary destinations for outbound U.S. dealmaking. The demand was driven by those markets' structural similarities to the domestic wealth management environment, large concentrations of mobile wealth, and existing professional services infrastructure.

In September, Corient unveiled two major U.K. acquisitions – Stonehage Fleming, overseeing approximately $175 billion in client assets, and Stanhope Capital Group at $40 billion – which pushed Corient's total assets above $430 billion and made it one of the largest non-bank wealth managers globally. Within North America, Corient is setting its sights on Canada's ultra-high-net-worth space, with plans to launch officially in Canada this month.