Hightower, a wealth management firm headquartered in Chicago, has made a fifth strategic investment this month, this time in Argent Wealth Management, a $1.7 billion advisory practice based in Waltham, Mass., the companies announced today in a news release.
Financial details of the transaction, the seventh this year for Hightower, were not disclosed. Including Argent, Hightower now has 112 advisory businesses in 33 states.
Under terms of the agreement, Argent will take advantage of Hightower’s middle and back-office support and community expertise to focus on growing its business.
“We are delighted to be joining the Hightower community, which feels like a perfect fit for our business,” Argent founder and CEO David Duchesneau said in the news release. “Partnering with Hightower will enable us to keep our individuality as a practice while freeing up time and energy for us to do more of what we love most: help our clients solve problems and grow their wealth.”
Founded in 1992, Argent has 22 employees, including 11 advisors, who serve high-net-worth individuals and families in the greater Boston area. Argent provides advice on financial planning, investment management, retirement planning, estate planning and charitable giving, with a focus on holistic tax planning solutions for clients.
According to a spokesperson for Hightower, CEO Bob Oros has known the Argent team for about 15 years. When it came time for Argent to look for a partner, Lexington Wealth Management, an advisory practice that joined Hightower in August 2019, referred Duchesneau to Hightower.
“Argent’s intensive focus on financial planning and its depth of knowledge in the tax space has made [the firm’s] advisors among the most sought-after in the Boston area,” Oros said in the news release. “We welcome the Argent team to our community, and look forward to supporting them as they deepen their relationships with clients and seek opportunities to grow and scale.”
Hightower was founded in 2008 by Elliot Weissbluth. Oros, formerly a top executive at Fidelity's custodian business unit, took over the position of CEO in January 2019 and began leading the company in a new direction based on a business model that prioritized buying stakes in independent RIAs over wirehouse broker lift-outs—a transition Weissbluth initiated and Oros executed as his successor.
According to Oros, there are plenty of suitors looking for a partner like Hightower.
The company offers independent-minded advisory businesses a capital-rich partner and suite of services designed to help firms accelerate both organic and inorganic growth. Hightower’s platform includes technology, compliance, accounting, payroll, human resources, investment management services and marketing support.