Colonial River Wealth Management LLC, an OSJ led by Devin Garofalo in Midlothian, Va., has acquired Lions Bridge Financial Advisors Inc., with offices in Newport News and Williamsburg, Va., in a deal totaling $850 million in combined client assets under management, according to a news release.
Under terms of the merger, the two firms will rebrand as Lions Bridge Financial Advisors, the name of the firm formerly led by founder Jayne Di Vincenzo.
Garofalo will serve as CEO of the newly merged firm, and his wife, Heidi Garofalo, will serve as its chief operations officer.
Di Vincenzo will step back from her former role as CEO of Lions Bridge, but will continue as a financial advisor at the refashioned firm. She will also assist in mentoring new advisors.
Di Vincenzo founded Lions Bridge more than a decade ago as a full-service financial advisory practice offering investment management, insurance, and trust and estate planning strategies to families and businesses throughout Virginia's Hampton Roads region and in 25 states across the country.
She and her team service more than $200 million in client assets, including $175 million in advisory assets.
Garofalo founded Colonial River 13 years ago as a family business. The firm manages over $650 million in total assets, including more than $350 million in advisory assets.
Garofalo said both firms were—and remain—independent affiliates of LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer. “LPL has been a great partner for us and our clients for all these years,” he said. “That won’t change.”
Both Colonial River and Lions Bridge have reported record growth, and both ranked in the top 3% of all LPL firms nationwide for the past several years, Garofalo said, making them members of the LPL Chairman’s Club. As a result of the merger, he added, the rebranded Lions Bridge would be eligible this year for membership in LPL’s Executive Council comprised of less than 1% of the firm's advisor network and is based on annual production of all LPL-supported registered advisors.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.