Robertson Stephens Wealth Management has acquired the Thrush Group, expanding into Connecticut while also lifting assets under management to more than $5 billion.
The San Francisco, Calif., firm, in a press release, said the Westport-based Thrush Group managed more than $180 million in advisory assets. Thrush’s founders, William Thrush and Meghan Rump, joined Robertson Stephens as managing directors and principals.
Their advisory practice was launched by industry giant Hightower in 2016. The Thrush team specializes in the development and management of financial strategies for private business owners and families.
“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Bill and Meghan to Robertson Stephens,” Raj Bhattacharyya, chief executive officer of Robertson Stephens, said in a statement last week. “Their two decades of experience serving families in Fairfield County makes them ideal candidates for our first presence in Connecticut and the fourth office in the New York tri-state area. “
He also lauded the advisors’ “deep knowledge of the alternative asset space.”
In an interview, Bhattacharyya said that Robertson Stephens has mainly used acquisitions to grow assets to $5.1 billion from $450 million in six years.
“Acquisitions have been a very, very big part” of that growth, he said, adding that management still “prioritizes” organic growth. Robertson Stephens has acquired 18 advisor teams in the past five years.
“We’re very happy with the growth that we’ve accomplished in the past six years,” Bhattacharyya said.
Bhattacharyya pointed to the addition of Thrush’s principals as an especially significant factor of the deal: “This acquisition of the Thrush Group was quite significant in that I think we acquired two extraordinarily high-quality advisors for the firm.”
Thrush and Rump did stints at Merrill Lynch before founding the Thrush Group. Thrush focused on tasks such as asset management and tax-minimization strategies as senior financial advisor and senior vice president of Wealth Management at Merrill. Rump, who has nearly 20 years of experience in financial services and wealth management, worked as a financial advisor at the company.