Steward Partners, an employee-owned hybrid partnership of independent advisory firms with nearly $50 billion in client assets, has acquired Wisdom Rock Financial Advisory Group, a $500 million AUM team previously affiliated with Ameriprise Financial. The deal adds seven advisors and a Rochester, N.Y.-based office to Steward’s M&A channel.
The team is led by founding partner Michael Keys, who spent 38 years with Ameriprise, and advisor partner Chris Neitz, who spent 11 years with Ameriprise.
“Stewart, when we met with them, it was very clear that they wanted to take everything off of our plate that wasn’t related to adding value to our clients,” Neitz said. “And I think they also gave us a lot of flexibility in how we manage assets and how we meet with clients on a day-to-day basis.”
Under the M&A model, advisory teams can maintain their brand, while leveraging the resources and operational support of a national firm.
Last year, Steward completed 12 M&A deals, nine of which were external transactions, said Scott Danner, chief growth officer at Steward. So far this year, the firm has done seven deals, and he expects it to do more this year than last. Just this week, Steward acquired Jazz Wealth, an eight-member RIA in Largo, Fla. with about $450 million in client assets.
Late last year, Steward decided to end its 1099 model for incoming advisors due to the firm’s need to “manage the growth” it’s seeing through its W-2 channel and its burgeoning M&A business. Although the firm began as a destination spot for wirehouse breakaways, more advisors are increasingly entering the fold via acquisition.
Last December, Steward announced it raised $475 million in capital from alternative asset manager Ares Management, in the form of a non-controlling minority stake and expanded lending relationship. The capital infusion from Ares rewarded a combination of Steward’s employee owners and minority interest holders, The Cynosure Group, which first invested in 2019, and the Pritzker Organization, which invested in 2020.
“This really allowed us to also focus on opportunities of retirement internally today for advisors that are in our network, and succession opportunities, and all kinds of things that help us continue to develop for the future,” Danner said. “So while capital’s always something that’s needed when you’re building for acquisitions, I feel like the partnership with Ares was just another additional value add to the growth story that we see in front of us moving into the future.”
