United Capital Scoops Up 2 RIAs With $800M
The deals mean the RIA rollup firm now has locations in Atlanta and near Davenport, Iowa.
United Capital says it has acquired two RIAs with over $800 million in combined assets under management: Irongate International of Moline, Illinois, and Peachtree Investment Advisors of Atlanta.
Terms of the purchases were not disclosed.
“These acquisitions validate our vision of financial life management,” according to United Capital founder and CEO Joe Duran. “Irongate and Peachtree understand the best and greatest use of their time is to help their clients come to grips with the highly complex, big picture issues that touch every aspect of their financial lives.”
Started in 2001, Irongate manages $455 million in assets and has nine employees; Tony Carpita, Ted Baker and Tait Johnson join United Capital as managing directors, and founder Patrick Trimble will stay with the team through the move.
Peachtree, based in Atlanta’s Buckhead, went into business in 2006 and has four employees; partners Michael Wolf, Wesley French and Mark Stancil will serve as managing directors and should bring about $345 million in managed assets when they transition.
“United Capital is an innovative company with a financial life management focus that we believe is years ahead of the competition. In terms of its technology and vision for the industry’s future, United Capital is head and shoulders above everyone else. We couldn’t have built this on our own,” Wolf said in a statement.
According to Peachtree COO Carpita: “United Capital is on the cutting edge of behavioral finance technology that may help create enormous value with our next-generation households. This deal gives us the resources to scale up and spend more time serving our clients.”
United Capital, which has about $23 billion in assets and nearly 100 offices nationwide, seems pleased with its latest deals.
“It’s gratifying to welcome forward-looking firms like Irongate and Peachtree to our team,” according to Matt Brinker, the firm’s chief business development officer. “We’re eager to leverage our resources to provide the high-net-worth, multigenerational households they serve with a truly indispensable client experience.”
Last year, 181 M&A deals involving RIAs were completed, representing about $370 billion in assets, according to Echelon Partners, an investment bank. The average transaction size topped $1.3 billion, almost a third larger than the average deal size in 2017; close to 18% of the deals included firms with $1 billion or more in AUM.
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