Mariner Wealth is Buying $600M Ohio RIA
The RIA now has a total of 395 advisors across 53 offices with $46 billion in assets under advisement.
Mariner Wealth Advisors says it has struck a deal to buy The Pinnacle Group, a West Chester, Ohio-based RIA, and expects the purchase to close on Sept. 24.
This is the fifth acquisition for Overland Park, Kansas City-based Mariner Wealth since it sold a minority stake of its business to Leonard Green & Partners in April.
Recently, Mariner Wealth announced four other acquisitions: Sarasota, Florida-based Allegiant Private Advisors, Los Angeles-based AdvicePeriod, Channel Islands Group and Pittsburgh-based Commonwealth Advisory Group, adding over $7 billion in combined assets under management.
Mariner Wealth now has 395 advisors across 53 offices. They work with close to $46 billion in assets under advisement. The latest acquisition gives it a second office in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
“The Pinnacle Group’s approach to financial planning, including their retirement planning solutions for businesses, fold into our services and firm goals seamlessly,” Mariner Wealth CEO & President Marty Bicknell said in a statement. “I’m excited to see what we can accomplish together.”
Pinnacle was founded in 1994. A significant stake of its AUM is in retirement plans, so the deal will also “contribute to the further growth of Mariner Wealth Advisors’ own retirement plan solutions, a platform designed to aid businesses in managing their employer-sponsored retirement plans for employees,” the firm said in a press release.
Pinnacle’s high volume of referrals from CPAs will also “integrate seamlessly with Mariner Wealth Advisors’ existing CPA Alliance,” it added.
The deal provides Pinnacle with an “attractive career path that offers new opportunities for growth and development to our team,” according to J. Scott Sims, its president and founder.
Sims has been a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-registered rep for 28 years, according to his report on FINRA’s BrokerCheck website. In addition to his own firm, he was associated with FINRA as a broker for Securities America since 2005.
Pinnacle will assume the Mariner Wealth name at closing, and its office will remain under Sims’ leadership. Pinnacle’s owners and founders were advised on the transaction by the investment banking firm of Echelon Partners, Mariner Wealth said.
(Pictured: Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisor)