Deals & Moves: WPGC-Backed Apella Acquires $332M RIA
Apella Wealth, a West Hartford, Conn.-based registered investment advisor with $12.5 billion in assets under management, has acquired Kilner Capital Advisors, a Gaithersburg, Md., firm with about $332 million in AUM.
Joseph F. “Joe” Kilner founded the firm in 2006 to offer investment management, tax and estate planning. He joins Apella as partner and senior wealth advisor, along with two team members.
“Throughout our search for the right partner, we focused on finding a firm that shares our commitment to evidence-based investing, comprehensive financial planning, and always putting clients first,” Kilner said in a statement.
This deal is Apella’s 31st overall and its 20th with Wealth Partners Capital Group, which took a minority stake in September 2021.
Apella was founded in 2014 and has since grown to include 35 offices in the United States.
Sequoia Financial Adds Colorado’s Quish Family Office
Sequoia Financial Group, an Akron, Ohio-based RIA with more than $36 billion in AUM, has acquired Quish, a Boulder, Colo.-based family office and wealth manager with more than $175 million in client assets.
Mariah Quish, founder and principal of Quish, has joined Sequoia Financial and will be part of the firm’s Sequoia Sentinel Family Office team. Founded in 2008, Quish specializes in legacy planning for families and individuals.
“Mariah has built an exceptional advisory practice centered on a highly personalized client experience, and we are thrilled that she and the families she serves are joining Sequoia Financial,” Tom Haught, chairman and CEO of Sequoia Financial, said in a statement.
Quish will operate under the Sequoia Financial brand and get access to Sequoia Financial services, including tax, estate, risk management and charitable giving disciplines.
The Quish deal follows Sequoia Financial’s September acquisition of BSW Wealth Partners, another Boulder firm with $2.3 billion in client assets and its August acquisition of Minneapolis-area firm All Star Financial, which had $1.3 billion in assets.
Sequioa Financial is majority employee-owned, with minority stakes held by Valeas Capital Partners and Kudu Investment Management.
LPL Recruits $525M Northwestern Mutual Team Anchor Financial Partners
LPL Financial, the San Diego-based independent broker/dealer with $2.6 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets, added Anchor Financial Partners, a team that had overseen about $525 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets at Northwestern Mutual.
Based in Vinings, Ga., outside Atlanta, Anchor Financial Partners is led by Frank Conner, Andrew Runnion, Josh Eisenberg, Brandon Porter, Kyle Brooker and Trey Beavers. The team serves affluent and high-net-worth individuals, business owners and others with wealth, tax and estate planning needs.
The practice operates as a single integrated team rather than as separate books of business, with partners sharing responsibility for client relationships.
“We wanted the independence to serve clients the way we believe is best, supported by a platform with the scale and capabilities to help us keep building,” Porter said in a statement. “LPL stood out during our due diligence for both its open architecture and the strength behind the platform.”
During its third-quarter earnings report this week, LPL said it expects to retain 83% of the assets from its acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network, down from the 85% reported last quarter and the 90% target the firm started with.
South Atlantic Bank Enters Wealth Space
South Atlantic Bancshares, parent of Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based South Atlantic Bank, announced it was entering the wealth management space with an agreement to acquire the $430 million Eastover Capital Management.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based firm will add a financial advisor team to the employee-owned bank holding company, which currently has about $2 billion in assets across its 12 locations in coastal South Carolina.
Eastover will add portfolio management for individual and institutional clients throughout the U.S., along with equity strategies with investment-grade bond allocations, according to the announcement.
Eastover is employee-owned and led by CEO and advisor Will Mackey, who co-founded the firm in 2011 with four other team members.
