Larry Roth posted his weekly “Larry’s Take” commentary on the deals and recruiting in the wealth industry on Wealth Solutions Report as part of its Deals & Recruiting Roundup.
While Creative Planning captured the industry’s attention this week with its SageView acquisition, the more unique transaction was the merger between Greenspring and Wealthstream, because it brought together two sizeable employee-owned firms with compensation entirely in equity.
Adding a $1.5 billion firm to an approximately $8.5 billion firm to bring together 70 employees and 23 partners may sound unwieldy, but the teams pulled it off, demonstrating that a merger of employee-owned firms is possible at that size. However, the firms have cooperated for ten years, which helped lay the cultural foundation for the merger.
For firms looking to increase their resources but maintain full control of ownership, a merger like this may be the right choice because it provides the benefits of increased scale – and the increased competitiveness that comes with scale – without diluting the owners’ equity.
If you would like to discuss this Larry’s Take further, including how these trends might impact your business, please contact Larry Roth at larry.roth@ascentix.com.
To see the Wealth Solutions Report Deals & Recruiting Roundup for the week, click here. Visit Wealth Solutions Report for the latest wealth management insights, analysis and news.