Fiduciary Network has purchased an interest in Legacy Wealth Management, one of the largest fee-only financial planning firms in Memphis, Tenn. Legacy entered the transaction primarily to assist founder and CEO John Ueleke and his partners in expanding ownership to other senior advisors at the firm.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Legacy manages more than $500 million for more than 400 clients and already had seven employee/shareholders, each with a stake in the firm exceeding 5%. Seven other advisor employees own stakes of less than 1% in the firm.

The deal represents the eighth such investment by Dallas-based Fiduciary Network, a holding company formed by private investor Howard Milstein and former Undiscovered Managers CEO Mark Hurley.

"We'd looked at this for several years and as time moved on, it made more and more sense even though we had 'Next Gen' shareholders," Ueleke says. "In a service business, you are not buying assets, you are buying relationships."

Ueleke chose to go with Fiduciary Network after investigating transactions offered by two other consolidator/holding companies. "It's the only model I've seen that is going to stay fee-only," he notes. "Hurley has figured out a good way to monetize [client] relationships and not bankrupt the next generation."