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Industry Spotlight > Mergers and Acquisitions

Wealth Enhancement Group Nabs $1.04B RIA in Los Angeles

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What You Need to Know

  • The transaction represents the firm’s second Southern California acquisition, following Pillar Pacific in June.
  • The RIA is now called the Oakwood Team at Wealth Enhancement Group.
  • Echelon Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Oakwood in the transaction.

Plymouth, Minnesota-based Wealth Enhancement Group acquired Oakwood Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based independent RIA with $1.04 billion in total client assets.

The purchase, which closed on June 30, boosted Wealth Enhancement Group’s advisor count to 224 and total client assets to $37.23 billion in client brokerage, advisory and trust assets as of July 1, it said on Thursday.

Oakwood was the firm’s second Southern California acquisition, following its purchase of Pillar Pacific Capital Management on June 1. Other acquisitions by Wealth Enhancement Group this year included Reby Advisors, an RIA based in Danbury, Connecticut, with about $727 million in client brokerage and advisory assets, announced in January.

The latest acquisition “demonstrates that Wealth Enhancement Group is moving quickly to build significant local scale in the strategically critical Southern California market,” it said.

Oakwood was founded in 1998 by Bruce Mandel, its CEO and president, and has five financial advisors among its 14 employees. The RIA specializes in wealth management, investment management, asset management and financial planning for a mostly West Coast-based book of clients. The practice serves high-net-worth professionals, retirees and younger, tech-savvy clients.

The RIA is now called the Oakwood Team at Wealth Enhancement Group, and Mandel is its managing director.

“Mandel and his team at Oakwood Capital Management have built an excellent wealth management practice in the heart of Los Angeles that still has significant room to grow,” according to Jeff Dekko, Wealth Enhancement Group CEO.

“With our support, they will be able to streamline their operations and offer an even higher level of service than before, without compromising the personal touch their clients have come to expect,” he said in a statement.

Ever since starting discussions with Dekko and Jim Cahn, Wealth Enhancement Group chief investments and business development officer, “it was clear that Wealth Enhancement Group was the strategic partner we were looking for, a firm that would enable us to build upon this vision and offer our clients more value than ever before,” according to Mandel.

Echelon Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Oakwood in the transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.

(Image: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock)


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