Thrivent Trust Co. is buying the assets of Ronald Blue & Co., one of the largest RIAs in the country.
Ronald Blue, which has been a fee-only independent wealth management firm with $7 billion in assets under management and advisement, is relinquishing its RIA status to become a trust company, the two firms announced Wednesday.
Under the terms of the deal, which was completed Tuesday, Thrivent will acquire the assets of Ronald Blue, based in Atlanta. Nicholas Stonestreet will serve as CEO of the newly expanded trust company. Until a new name is chosen, the company will continue to be known as Thrivent Trust Company.
Ronald Blue will continue to provide its clients with financial services on the trust company platform and its leadership team will remain in place.
Thrivent Trust will now have two divisions. One will be Ronald Blue Trust, which will serve the former Ronald Blue & Co. clients. The other, Thrivent Trust, will continue to provide trust and estate settlement services, as well as investment management solutions, through Thrivent Financial.
The two companies complement each other in both geographic locations and client demographics, says Brian Shepler, chief financial officer and executive vice president of client services for Ronald Blue Trust. Ronald Blue clients are primarily high net worth.
Both companies focus on faith-based investing and financial services. Ronald Blue was founded in 1979 and services 7,000 clients through a network of 13 offices. Thrivent, which began as an insurance company for Lutherans in the Midwest, had $116.5 billion in AUM and advisement as of the end of last year.