Cerity Partners’ latest deal plants a flag in New York’s Capital Region with the acquisition of Graypoint, an Albany-based $4.5 billion firm. As a part of the deal, President and CEO Daniel Nolan will become a Cerity partner and vice chairman.
Graypoint was founded in 2019, resulting from a merger between Bender Lane Advisory and Hugh Johnson Advisors, and currently serves over 700 clients, including high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (including corporate executives) and institutions. Graypoint will operate under Cerity’s brand.
According to Nolan, the deal is an “extension of the same core values” Graypoint had at its founding.
“By joining forces with Cerity Partners, we are doubling down on our commitment to help clients preserve, steward and grow the wealth they’ve created—and to help them define where their wealth meets purpose,” he said.
According to Cerity, the deal will boost its presence in Albany and the surrounding metropolitan region and its institutional pedigree. (Graypoint works with over 60 nonprofits around Albany and other locations.)
The deal with Graypoint is Cerity Partners’ second multi-billion-dollar deal this year. In January, the New York-based RIA with approximately $133 billion in managed assets bought Prio Wealth, a Boston-based firm with $4.1 billion in assets. The deal expanded Cerity’s presence in Boston, and like Graypoint, Prio came under Cerity’s brand.
Additionally, Cerity struck deals in December to buy Fishman Block Diamond, a California-based accounting, tax and business advisory firm that expanded Cerity’s tax advisory services and added 46 employees. Earlier in 2024, Cerity acquired Agility, a Denver-based outsourced CIO platform owned by Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management. (The deal took Cerity above $100 billion AUM.)
Cerity was founded in 2009. Since 2017, it has received minority backing from private equity firm Lightyear Capital and has been majority-owned by Genstar Capital since 2022. The firm has more than 900 employees and about 700 advisors. It works with more than 15,700 households, approximately 57% of which are considered ultra-wealthy.
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