Concurrent Makes First RIA Platform Deal With $5.4B Spire
Concurrent Investment Advisors, a Tampa, Fla.-based hybrid registered investment advisor that operates a 1099 independent contractor platform, is significantly boosting its assets under management with its first acquisition of another RIA platform, the $5.4 billion Spire Investment Partners.
Concurrent now has $28.6 billion in AUM, up from $16.8 billion at the start of the year, along with $18 billion in corporate retirement plan assets under advisement.
Since Concurrent broke away from Raymond James in 2022, it has steadily added firms to its 1099 advisor platform, often taking minority stakes in those firms, and launched an external RIA minority investment program last year. The addition of Spire is Concurrent’s first acquisition of another platform business, a move that CEO Nate Lenz said it will seek to do more of in the future.
“We’ve got ambitious growth goals, and this is a new frontier for us,” Lenz said. “Rather than doing it brick-by-brick, we are going out to get a like-minded group of advisor teams.”
Lenz said the attraction to Spire came in part from the firm operating on a similar 1099 model, where advisor teams leverage the home office support and technology stack while running their own brands and balance sheets.
“It’s all about being selective and finding the right fit in firms that line up with advisor independence and advisor support,” he said. “Looking at Spire was kind of like looking in a mirror.”
The McLean, Va.-based Spire was founded in 1997, but only in the past few years has it begun adding other RIAs to its hybrid platform, bringing its total to more than 30 advisor teams. It also launched an in-house succession program for affiliated firms, according to the announcement.
David Blisk, founder and CEO of Spire, said in a statement that the decision to join Concurrent was the result of listening to Spire’s advisors about what they needed for their next phase of growth.
“As we considered various options to continue to grow the firm, we heard loud and clear from our advisors that they wanted the technology and resources to keep driving their growth and relevance to their clients,” Blisk said.
Blisk and Spire employees previously owned the firm, according to its most recent Form ADV. They and Spire’s advisors will have access to Concurrent equity after one year, similar to all Concurrent employees, Lenz said.
The advisor teams will also be offered the chance to tap into Concurrent’s minority investment offering for partner firms, Lenz said, noting that those conversations would occur after the teams and their clients are onboarded.
Concurrent, which already uses Goldman Sachs, Schwab, and Fidelity as custodians, added BNY Pershing as a custodian to align with Spire’s custodial options.
With the deal, the RIA platform will have its first office presence in Northern Virginia and extend its overall footprint to 33 states. It will also add about 17 home-office employees, which Lenz said are needed for the growing firm.
“This brings us to about 111 home office team members supporting advisors across investment, planning, custodial support and other central services,” he said. “Spire will now have access to specialized functions they didn’t have through the human capital, which also creates a virtuous cycle for us as we scale and offer our advisors more.”
Concurrent is majority-owned by its employees, with a minority stake owned by Merchant Investment Management.
Berkshire Global Advisors worked with Spire on the move, and Katz Teller advised Concurrent.
