The Colony Group picked up Long Wharf Investors on Wednesday in a deal that boosted the Boston-based Focus Financial partner firm’s assets to $3.75 billion under management.
Long Wharf brings $200 million in client assets to the table in Wednesday’s deal, Colony’s third since joining Focus Financial. Since 2011, Colony has tripled its assets under management, from $1.2 billion to approximately $3.75 billion.
Co-founded in 1995 by John Keller and David Bush-Brown, Boston-based Long Wharf is a boutique RIA that serves 125 high-net-worth clients, including families, trusts, foundations and non-profits. Long Wharf’s principals, Keller and Rod Macdonald, will join the Colony team following this transaction. Bush-Brown will not be joining Colony.
Macdonald said he was attracted to Colony’s like-minded approach and similar core values, adding the merger allows Long Warf to better protect their clients’ interests through a built-in succession plan and provided their advisors with access to greater pools of capital.
“Long Wharf was founded 20 years ago to provide our clients with boutique wealth management services and proprietary investment strategies,” Macdonald said. “When we were introduced to Colony by Focus, we immediately recognized that they had a similar client service philosophy, and there was a natural fit between the two firms.”
For Colony, the deal continued the firm’s strategy to acquire outstanding talent as a way to achieve growth, says Michael Nathanson, CEO of The Colony Group. “Long Wharf Investors has built a firm that is fully dedicated to providing clients with a first-class wealth management experience and the investment strategies to match.”
Colony previously acquired Mintz Levin Financial Advisors in Boston in 2012 and Prosper Advisors in New York in 2013.