Pathstone Federal Street has entered an agreement to acquire assets of Washington, D.C.- based Convergent Wealth Advisors from City National Bank. The asset purchase transaction creates a national multi-family-office type of RIA with 100 professionals serving more than 300 families with about $10 billion in assets under advisement.

The transaction comes at a turbulent time for Convergent, occurring less than two years after the suicide of its CEO, David Zier. According to published reports, Zier was found dead on October 15, 2014, after other Convergent compliance officials confronted him about a separate hedge fund he ran on the side for family and friends.

No purchase price was disclosed, but some observers think that, under the unusual circumstances, it could be a good strategic deal for the acquirer. It gives Pathstone Federal Street a truly national footprint, as it now has offices in Boston; Atlanta; Fort Lee, N.J.; Los Angeles; Naples, Fla.; and Washington, D.C.

The deal is the second in less than a year for Pathstone and Federal Street, which agreed to merge last September, creating a firm with about $7 billion in assets. While that transaction was structured as a merger, the Convergent acquisition was structured as an asset purchase so Pathstone Federal Street did not assume any contingent liabilities. Both transactions were financed by Fiduciary Network of Dallas.

After Pathstone and Federal Street merged, its co-CEO Steve Braverman began talks with City National about Convergent. Almost immediately after Zier’s death, Convergent’s rivals in its two main markets, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, began circling the firm like sharks, looking to poach clients and advisors alike.

The asset purchase also is designed to bring a degree of stability to Convergent, which has experienced a major loss of assets since October 2014. Today, it has $3 billion in assets, compared to about $8.6 billion in 2013. Under these conditions, it is understandable that City National, known in Los Angeles as “Bank To The Stars,” was looking to stop the bleeding. City National bought Convergent in 2007.

For Pathstone Federal Street, the acquisition represents an opportunity to purchase talent. Many experts in the RIA-MFO profession believe the biggest constraint to growth is the growing shortage of good advisors, not clients.

About 24 Convergent professionals will join Pathstone Federal Street and eight are being made equity principals, bringing the firm’s total number of partners to 30. “It brings more adults into the room,” Braverman says. “We know just how important talent is.”

In May 2015, John Elmes, an executive at JP Morgan Private Bank, joined Convergent and became president last September. Before joining JP Morgan Private Bank, he held senior investment and wealth management positions at Genspring during the years it doubled its business.

Elmes himself adds management depth to Pathstone Federal Street and will join its executive committee, becoming executive managing director in charge of firm-wide growth strategies. The firm is led by Braverman, co-CEO Allan Zachariah, chairman John Lapann and president Matt Flessig.

With his experience at giants like JP Morgan and Genspring, Elmes was impressed with the Convergent people. “The Convergent team have galvanized around each other like family,” Elmes said. “City National was patient and unwavering, even with all the turmoil.”

Asked about the asset attrition over the last two years as competitors pounced on the firm’s clients, Elmes said only that it is a “very competitive” business. The new Pathstone Federal Street principals had a “tough 24-month period” and really managed to “work together.”

In many ways, Convergent is an excellent fit for Pathstone Federal Street. Both firms specialize in working with first-generation wealth. These individuals are focused on preserving their wealth for subsequent generations. Both firms also use Schwab as their custodian and have similar reporting systems. Convergent's average client has about $30 million in assets, which is close what Federal Street has and somewhat below the typical Pathstone family. Many of the latter own closely-held businesses.

Pathstone Federal Street is also a major client of City National, according to Braverman, who had run Harris myCFO before launching Pathstone. Harris Bank is owned by Bank of Montreal while City National is owned by Royal Bank of Canada, so both teams share the experience of being arms of U.S. banks owned by Canadian banks.

Elmes added that Convergent has a slightly different “West Coast” flavor. Given that the region is where so much new wealth is being created, it may also be a good fit.

Prior to the tragic events of October 2014, Convergent had enjoyed a stellar reputation. In the year before his death, Zier was ranked No. 5 in Barron’s list of top advisors. Convergent’s founder, Steve Lockshin, held the No. 1 spot in 2011.

By 2014, Lockshin, a serial entrepreneur, was winding down his involvement with Convergent and investing in other start-ups, including robo-advisor Betterment and Advice Period, an RIA consolidator attempting to do lift-outs of wirehouse teams similar to Hightower.

The problem of special side deals and funds for a handful of clients, often unbeknownst to senior management, has bedeviled both the RIA and brokerage businesses. In the B-D world, the practice is called “selling away” and the firms are held responsible.

Sources said that participants in Zier’s “family and friends” hedge fund were made whole. RIAbiz, which covered Zier’s suicide and the subsequent events in detail at the time, reported that he was psychologically influenced by the 2008-2009 financial crisis and believed another market collapse would occur. Tragically, the fund, which never had more than $20 million, was established for those closest to him.