Equitable Advisors, a New York City-based financial services company and principal franchise of Equitable Holdings Inc., has acquired Penn Investment Advisors (PIA) Inc., a registered investment advisor and subsidiary of Penn Community Bank located in Yardley, Pa., with about $600 million in assets under administration (AUA) for about 950 clients, the company said.
The deal is expected to further scale Equitable’s wealth management business, Equitable Advisors LLC, which reported $70.8 billion in AUA as of June 30 managed by 4,200 financial professionals, said the company, which provides planning services to individuals, families, and small-to-medium-sized businesses.
“Equitable’s value proposition for RIAs and wealth management firms resonates loudly in the marketplace,” David Karr, chairman of Equitable Advisors, said in a news release. “We will continue to focus on growing organically and through strategic acquisitions as part of our robust growth strategy.”
Under terms of deal, PIA’s leadership, including President Christian Wagner, Chief Operating Officer Sean Schmid, and PIA’s team of financial advisors will join Equitable and continue to provide wealth management and advisory services to PIA and Penn Community Bank clients.
“Navigating a complicated, ever-changing investment landscape gets much easier when you have the right financial partner on your side,” Wagner said in the news release. “It was critical for us to partner with a wealth management firm with a client-first culture that could provide a seamless transition for our clients and advisors at Penn Investment Advisors.”
David Fleisher, co-head of Equitable Advisors’ Philadelphia market, will oversee the new venture. The long-term relationship, designed to offer wealth management services to the clients of Penn Community Bank, is Equitable’s second strategic relationship with a leading institution in the Philadelphia market.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1859 by Henry Baldwin Hyde, French insurance firm AXA acquired majority control of The Equitable in 1991. In 2004, the company officially changed its name to AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, relaunching in 2020 as an independent business under the brand name Equitable.