Mariner Wealth Advisors today said it has taken a majority stake in Housen Financial Group of Manasquan, N.J.
Housen Financial, a hybrid firm led by President Christopher Housen, has $817 million under management, about 500 clients and 13 staff. The firm said it will retain its name and staff.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Housen deal will bring Mariner Wealth’s assets to $9.5 billion.
The deal is just the latest for Marty Bicknell, chief executive of Leawood, Kan.-based Mariner, which has been adding a number of acquisitions to its growing stable of wealth management firms.
In late 2013, Mariner acquired a majority stake in New York City-based RR Advisory Group with $780 million in assets.
Mariner got its first toehold in the New York/New Jersey market by acquiring Madison, N.J.-based Brinton Eaton in December 2012, which had $700 million in client assets at the time.
Housen, 48, tells Financial Advisor that he wasn’t looking to sell and in fact long ago stopped taking calls from potential acquirers. But when Mariner bought RR Advisory Group, a growing firm similar to his with relatively young owners, “that got my attention,” he said. A chance conversation with Brinton Eaton chief executive Bob DiQuollo convinced Housen to check into Mariner’s capabilities and interest.
“I started my business because I love meeting with clients,” said Housen, a CPA. “But fast forward 20 years, and I found myself spending time on compliance and [human resources] and tying up half my day” on administrative chores.
“Our objective is to take that all off the table” for partner firms, Bicknell said, yet let them run their practices as separate entities.
Mariner’s parent, Mariner Holdings, also owns a collection of money management firms, the best known being MLP manager Tortoise Capital Advisors. Assets under management at Mariner Holdings now total $30 billion.