Savant Capital Management and The Monitor Group, independent fee-only RIAs, will combine to become Savant Capital LLC. Together they will have more than $2.7 billion in assets under management.

The new firm will have 10 offices in Illinois, Wisconsin, Virginia and Florida with clients worldwide. Corporate headquarters will be in Rockford, Ill.

Thomas Muldowney, Savant Capital Management chairman, will be a member of the board of managers, as will Glenn Kautt, president and chairman of The Monitor Group; Brent Brodeski, CEO of Savant Capital Management, and Richard Bennett, COO of Savant Capital.

Both organizations are members of the Zero Alpha Group, an international network of independent investment advisory firms. Members of the two firms have known each other for several years.

"Each firm has successfully grown organically -- one client at a time -- during the course of the past several years," says Muldowney. "Joining forces provides a new avenue of growth for both organizations and we will continue to keep our strategic growth options open."

The merger was arranged by Advisor Growth Strategies LLC, based in Phoenix, and mergers and acquisitions advisor Advice Dynamics Partners LLC in San Francisco. The two firms managing the merger note that the shift in the advisory landscape has made this type of union an appealing growth alternative for advisors.

It is one of the largest RIA combinations of the year, says David Selig, CEO of Advice Dynamics Partners.

-Karen DeMasters