Focus Financial Partners Executes Six Mergers on Behalf of Partner Firms

Focus Financial Partners, LLC, the largest international partnership of independent wealth management firms, announced today that it has recently facilitated strategic mergers for six of its partners. Focus supported mergers for The Colony Group, IFM Capital Advisors, GW & Wade, HoyleCohen, Beirne Wealth Consulting, and Buckingham Asset Management, adding over $1 billion in client assets across the firms. With the completion of these transactions, Focus has executed over 60 mergers for its partner firms since its inception in 2006. In the first half of 2014, Focus facilitated several mergers for partner firms, Atlas Private Wealth Management, Bridgewater Wealth & Financial Management, LVW Advisors, Sapient Private Wealth Management, and Telemus Capital Partners.

“2014 has been a terrific year for Focus with tremendous activity across all of our business models. Mergers are an integral part of our value added programs to our partners, providing them with access to Focus' M&A expertise and capital. Mergers are also a terrific opportunity to provide succession planning and continuity to many advisors in our industry," says Rudy Adolf, Founder and CEO at Focus Financial Partners.

Focus has recently supported the following mergers for its partners:

The Colony Group, a Boston-based registered investment advisor with approximately $3.70 billion in client assets, joined forces with Long Wharf Investors (LWI) in July. LWI, also based in Boston, is a $200 million RIA led by principals Rod Macdonald and John Keller. “Long Wharf Investors has built a firm that is fully dedicated to providing clients with a first-class wealth management experience and the investment strategies to match,” said Michael Nathanson, CEO of The Colony Group. LWI, which has cultivated longstanding relationships with individual, family, trust, foundation and non-profit clients in the Boston area, has enabled Colony to further solidify its position in the market, while providing LWI with a built-in succession plan and greater access to resources. Since joining the Focus partnership, Colony has roughly tripled in size, expanding its client assets from $1.2 billion in 2011 to $3.70 billion.

IFM Capital Advisors, a leading wealth management and consulting firm with offices in Denver, Fort Collins, Colo. and Sioux Falls, S.D. has expanded their business with Don Graubert, founder of Post Oak Capital Advisors, a Houston-based RIA. "Don's impressive career in the financial services industry is a testimony to how financial advisors can serve their clients,” says Tim Kneen, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of IFM Capital Advisors. “It is an enormous honor to add his experience to our multi generational firm and we are proud to support Don further and carry on his legacy." IFM Capital was founded in January 2014 by former UBS advisors, Tim Kneen and Clayton Hartman. Since then, the firm has seen significant client interest and experienced rapid growth, expanding client assets from $800 million to $1.3 billion today.

GW & Wade, a Wellesley, Mass.-based partner firm with $5.1 billion in client assets also expanded its practice in July through the addition of veteran advisor, Paul St. Onge. Paul, an East Greenwich, R.I.-based sole practitioner with $150 million in client assets has served clients in New England and Florida for over 20 years. Paul, initially entered into a Focus Successions® agreement with GW & Wade to ensure continuity of service to his clients beyond his eventual retirement, but shortly after decided to accelerate the process by merging with GW & Wade. His decision was driven by the potential to capture the nearer-term growth potential of the partnership and offer his clients a broader range of services. Through this partnership, GW & Wade, which has offices in Wellesley, Mass. and Palo Alto, Calif., has been able to expand its client base further in New England.

HoyleCohen, a San Diego-based RIA that first partnered with Focus in 2006, added industry veteran, Chuck Ebersole to its team in September. Mr. Ebersole, who is based in Sacramento, brings over 40 years of industry experience and $140 million in client assets to the practice, bringing HoyleCohen’s total client assets to above $750 million. "Chuck built a terrific business in Sacramento providing great advise to his clients, and his deep expertise and client centric view will benefit HoyleCohen," says Mark Delfino, CEO of HoyleCohen. Through the merger, HoyleCohen has been able to expand its footprint in California and now serves clients in both the southern and northern regions of the state.

Beirne Wealth Consulting, a top-ranked wealth management firm based in Milford, Conn. announced that they have expanded its team with the addition of Lise Robinson, former wealth advisor at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., who joined the team in September. “We are excited to have Lise join our team as she brings a wealth of experience to the table. Lise wanted to be at a firm that embraced open architecture and a fiduciary model. We are very fortunate to have her,” said Jim Betzig, Partner and COO of Beirne Wealth Consulting.

Buckingham Asset Management, a St. Louis-based Focus partner firm added Hufford Advisors, an Indianapolis-based firm with approximately $400 million in client assets, to its practice through an intra-Focus merger in October. Together with BAM Advisor Services, Buckingham currently manages or administers more than $24 billion in client assets. The Hufford team, a member of the BAM alliance since 2012, provides specialist financial advice to dentists and other healthcare professionals. For Buckingham, which primarily operates in Missouri, California, Texas and Iowa, the merger with Hufford has enabled the continued expansion of its national footprint and has also granted them access to an underserved, niche client market. "Since joining Focus in 2011, I have admired Buckingham's client centric business model. I am excited to see our firms merge and to bring our expanded capabilities to our targeted client group," said Brian Hufford, Founder of Hufford Financial. For Hufford, the merger represented a way to enhance its client offering and accelerate its growth within the Indianapolis market. He previously served as CEO of Hufford Advisors, and will remain CEO of Hufford Consulting, LLC, continuing to serve as an industry thought leader for the combined entity.

About Focus Financial Partners

Founded in 2006, Focus Financial Partners, LLC is the leading international partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms. With more than $325 million in annual run rate revenues, Focus provides unrivaled access to best practices, resources, and continuity planning for its partner firms who serve individuals, families, employers and institutions with wealth management, benefit and investment consulting services. Focus partner firms maintain their entrepreneurial independence, while they benefit from the synergies, scale, economics and best practices of the market leader to achieve their business objectives. Focus was included on Inc. magazine’s 5000 ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies in 2011 and 2010. In 2012, Focus was named a Crain’s New York Business “Fast 50” growth firm in New York City. For more information about Focus Financial Partners, please visit www.focusfinancialpartners.com.