Cerity Partners, an independent financial advisory firm headquartered in New York, has acquired Los Altos, Calif.-based Sullivan & Serwitz (S&S), which manages $1 billion in client assets, according to a news release.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Robert Sullivan and Marshall Serwitz co-founded S&S in 1989. The firm provides affluent individuals and families nationwide with holistic wealth management, including financial planning and investment advisory services.
The firm said it is merging with Cerity Partners in order to expand its service offerings and to ensure a succession plan is in place for clients and colleagues.
“We feel Cerity Partners is the best fit for our practice to continue [our] growth,” said Robert Sullivan. “More importantly, Cerity Partners aligns with our firm culturally and philosophically; we both strongly believe advisors should always put the client first and not operate under a product-focused agenda.”
Sullivan & Serwitz started operating under the Cerity Partners’ branding on January 1, 2020. The California firm will provide presence and growth opportunities in Northern California that complement the Cerity Partners offices in Los Angeles and Orange County in the southern end of the state, according to Cerity Partners CEO and President Kurt Miscinski.
“We welcome our new colleagues from Sullivan & Serwitz and look forward to growing together as a unified firm,” he said of the merger in a news release.
While Cerity Partners is a younger firm than Sullivan & Serwitz, it has grown quickly, particularly since Lightyear Capital purchased a 50% stake in the company in 2018.
Founded in 2009 as HPM Partners, the company rebranded early last year using a modified version of the word “sincerity” in its name to reflect its mission of service to its clients, according to a company press release issued in 2019.
The firm operates as a private partnership model, serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families, businesses and their employees, as well as nonprofit organizations.