Newport Beach, Calif.-based Beacon Pointe Advisors, one of the largest independent registered investment advisory firms in the nation, has acquired two wealth management firms with a combined $620 million in assets under management, according to a news release.
CDA Group, a wealth management firm in Greenville, S.C., brings about $510 million in client assets, and Essex Wealth Management (Essex) in Vero Beach, Fla., adds $110 million.
Financial terms of the transactions, which closed at the end of December, were not disclosed. At the same time, Beacon Pointe also closed the acquisition deal of Metairie, La.-based CBD Wealth Management, which it acquired in November.
CDA Group, which represents clients throughout the Carolinas and beyond, has a seven-member team, including partners Joe Schofield, Kent Giguere and Steven Bright. It marks Beacon Pointe’s sixth regional office on the East Coast and the fourth merger to close out 2020.
Schofield, who serves as CEO, said Beacon Pointe is an ideal partner. “In addition to all of the usually important components of a partnership–ensuring the care of our clients and culture alignment–I wanted to make sure the next generation of our team had a big, bright future, and Beacon Pointe was an ideal partner for making this happen,” he said in a statement.
Essex, owned by Kerstin Murphy and Michael Himmel, represents Beacon Pointe’s second Florida office. Himmel has 35 years of financial management experience and Murphy began her career as an analyst at a hedge fund in New York City.
“These are extraordinary times, and I cannot wait to see how together we are able to serve our clients even better through our partnership,” Shannon Eusey, CEO of Beacon Pointe, said.