Southwestern Investment Group, a $5.8 billion registered investment adviser based in Franklin, Tennessee, has taken the plunge into a private equity partnership by selling a minority stake to Merchant Investment Management.
Like virtually all RIAs succumbing to the lure of PE capital, SWIG Chief Executive Jeff Dobyns said the move was about building scale in a fast-consolidating wealth management industry.
“In our search for growth partners, Merchant stood out with its deep, practical understanding of capital structure and a team of experts that truly understands how financial advisers serve their clients and thrive as businesses,” Dobyns said in a statement.
“Merchant’s flexibility in approach to equity and debt capital and willingness to go the distance with us has been one-of-a-kind,” Dobyns said.
Private equity investors have been flooding into the wealth management space with increasing momentum over the past several years, and Merchant has emerged as one of the higher-profile PE players ever since Matt Brinker joined as a managing partner a year ago.
“We jumped into this partnership with Jeff and the team because they are building an advisory firm that can sustain for decades to come,” Brinker said in the statement.
“Their approach to partnering young talent with experienced advisers, paired with firm ownership, allows SWIG to deliver high-quality financial planning and investment management services,” he added. “Everything we do at Merchant will be to preserve what makes SWIG great and help them lean even further into their strengths.”
Limra data shows RILAs and variable annuities outperforming, while fixed-rate deferred sales lag their 2024 highs.
The S&P 500's longest rally in more than 20 years came amid evidence of labor market resilience in the immediate wake of April's Liberation Day tariffs.
With membership in the "century club" expected to quadruple in three decades, joint studies from Nationwide and the TIAA Institute shed new light on people's planning blind spots.
The Watchman Group's Andrew Herzog has noticed his more left-leaning clients have been "looking to get out of the stock market, perhaps do more fixed income or go to cash" while his right-leaning clients are more comfortable keeping assets as they have them.
As you work with clients to navigate the current markets, stay grounded in their values and priorities.
From direct lending to asset-based finance to commercial real estate debt.
RIAs face rising regulatory pressure in 2025. Forward-looking firms are responding with embedded technology, not more paperwork.
