Steward Companions, an employee-owned and personal equity-backed community of monetary advisory practices overseeing some $32 billion in shopper property, is including 5 advisors and $488 million in shopper property with two additions underneath a brand new acquisition mannequin launched by way of acquisition late final yr.
In Virginia Seaside, Va., Monaco Capital was based in 2003 by Joseph Monaco, an economics Ph.D who beforehand frolicked with Prudential Securities and UBS. Monaco, who’s becoming a member of Steward’s Virginia Seaside workplace, manages about $175 million for greater than 430 households and a dozen institutional traders.
Saling Simms, in Columbus, Ohio, consists of 4 advisors overseeing $314 million for greater than 450 households and 57 establishments. Led by President Jim Saling and Vice President Brent Simms, the crew represents Steward’s first workplace location in Ohio.
Each companies have been beforehand working as unbiased RIAs and are becoming a member of Steward underneath its new Legacy Division, which was created final yr to supply a vacation spot for advisors in want of a succession plan. The division was seeded with the acquisition of Freedom Avenue Companions, a 7-year-old agency with 28 advisors, 17 areas and $3.2 billion in managed property. Freedom Avenue CEO Scott Danner now manages the division together with Steward’s govt management crew.
“The groups at these two respective companies have spent their total careers shouldering the monetary burden of their purchasers,” Danner mentioned in an announcement. “Our aim at Steward is to shoulder it for them, making certain easy continuity as these advisors transition into the following chapter of their careers and their purchasers into the following part of their lives.
“I’ve little question that this will likely be a easy transition for everybody concerned,” he added.
Companies acquired by Steward are given the choice of co-branding, adopting the Steward identify or becoming a member of the Legacy Division. Fairness is obtainable as a part of the transaction, and expertise is often introduced in on a W-2 foundation, however not all the time.
CEO Jim Gold instructed Wealthmanagement.com full acquisitions are most well-liked, however he’s open to different preparations in the proper conditions.
“We delight ourselves on flexibility and optionality, so we’re not going to attract any strains within the sand, however I believe our common premise goes to be that we need to purchase the entire thing,” he mentioned in November. “If there’s a very, actually nice alternative that may be a minority stake or a majority, however not an entire buy, we’ll actually have a look at that and see if it is sensible.”
Based in 2013, Steward has been centered currently on offering optionality to draw advisory expertise. Along with the brand new division, the agency has W-2, RIA-only and 1099 affiliation fashions and went multicustodial with the addition of Pershing final yr. A 2023 model “refresh” wrapped up in February when Steward Companions dropped International Advisory from its identify.
Majority-owned by staff and backed by capital from Cynosure Group and the Pritzker Group, in addition to a $140 million credit score facility, the agency has grown property from $50 million to $32 billion during the last decade, primarily via the recruitment of wirehouse breakaways.
After including greater than $6 billion via recruitment final yr, principally of breakaway wirehouse and bank-based advisors, Steward Companions expects to duplicate that development in 2024.
