This Week in Wealth

Alex, Ian and Andrew have an in-depth discussion about the hidden role that alternative asset manager Ares Management has played in funding so much of the M&A activity in the wealth management industry through its private credit division. Now that Ares is a direct equity investor in an RIA through its recent deal with EP Wealth, what is the future of its shadow banking operation?

Citywire RIA’s roving reporter Alec Rich hopped on a plane to Georgia to cover the latest twist in an ongoing legal battle between $129bn breakaway OpenArc Corporate Advisors (plus Dynasty Financial Partners and Charles Schwab) and Merrill Lynch. He joins the pod to share everything he learned in Atlanta and explain what happens next. Also on the podcast, Andrew talks about that rarest of things — a wealth firm going public. And Ian is back (sort of) with the lowdown on Ares’ first foray into buying equity in an RIA.

Andrew Foerch, Alec Rich and Alex Steger discuss a $129bn team's decision to ditch Merrill Lynch and set up an RIA with help from Dynasty and Schwab. The scale of the move is huge and so are its ramifications for all parties involved. Not least because Merrill has already filed a doozy of a lawsuit. Andrew, Alec and Alex get into it all. They also look at the perhaps surprising wind-down of Strive Wealth Management, which is shutting shop less than a year after its formal launch.

Ian Wenik, Andrew Foerch and Alex Steger discuss the latest evolution in Hightower's corporate strategy — to consolidate and centralize its affiliate advisors. The team explores the firm's motivation for doing this and what it says about the wider RIA market. They also analyze two major deals — Creative Planning's swoop for SageView and the Pritzker Org's Wellspring stake — and catch up on Andrew and Ian's time at last week's Future Proof conference.

Few people have overseen more RIA deals than Accelerated Wealth Partners CEO Eric Amar. During a decade at Focus Financial Partners, he worked on more than 60 mergers and acquisitions, giving him a firsthand view of what buyers want, and what sellers should know, when making a deal. In this episode of This Week in Wealth, Eric talks to Ian and Alex about that process. He shares how it has changed with the influx of private equity money, the key metrics that buyers look at, and what sellers should ask so that they can make a decision that’s best for them.

Ian and Sam Bojarski have an extended discussion about Sam's scoop on LPL Financial making a concerted push to convert hybrid advisors onto its corporate RIA. In addition to discussing who wins financially through these conversions, Ian and Sam touch on Sam's brush with fame and King of the Hill.

M&A, beards, babies and baseball — this podcast has it all! Ian, Alex and Andrew go deep on MAI and Evoke's tie-up and Merchant’s minority investment in a $2.5bn California RIA — two deals which speak to the maturity of the RIA market and the variety options now available to sellers. Facial hair, paternity leave and the Mets also get a mention.

Ian and — in his podcast return — Andrew Foerch discuss what Cresset's move to merge with $124bn investment consultancy Monticello Associates says about the industry-wide drive to acquire wealth assets which may not be under management and talk about how $25bn Homrich Berg's rebrand is a sign of how much the RIA industry has changed recently.

Alex, Ian and Alec Rich discuss three major Citywire RIA exclusives: Alec’s scoop on a flood of exits from Raymond James’s custody unit, Ian’s discovery that Hightower founder Elliot Weissbluth is returning to the wealth business and a new feature highlighting the fastest-growing RIAs under $1bn in assets.

Alex Steger, Ian Wenik and Alec Rich do a deep dive into one of Citywire’s biggest projects: 50 Growers Across America. The trio discuss how they identified the fastest-growing RIAs in the country, how those firms beat the competition and their relationships with institutional investors.