Aspen Standard Wealth, a new holding company taking majority stakes in registered investment advisors, has acquired another Boston-area firm as it seeks to provide permanent capital to wealth managers.
Aspen has invested in MG Financial, a Boston-based RIA with $1.1 billion in assets under management. The RIA, led by CEO and CIO Mary Gilligan, represents Aspen’s fourth acquisition since it launched last year.
Gilligan said her firm wasn’t necessarily looking for a new owner, but they were attracted to Aspen for its partnership culture and long-term time horizon.
“You’re building every single day, and you’re building for the health and future growth of the people within the company and what’s best for the clients,” she said.
MG consists of an eight-person team that serves first-generation wealth clients, business owners, venture capitalists and CEOs of major corporations.
“Our time horizon is permanence. We’re not trying to sell businesses every three to five years,” said Aspen CEO Aly Kassim-Lakha. “In that way, we’re modeled very much after Berkshire or Constellation or Danaher.”
Kassim-Lakha, a 32-year-old former private equity investor, started Aspen after working for Advent International, focusing on data, software and wealth management. Through that role, he identified pain points in the industry that he felt an independent setup, with parent company support, could help solve.
Aspen takes a majority stake in the RIAs that choose to join, and those firms maintain their brand, culture and ADVs.
The firm handles all the back-office and compliance functions so that owners can focus on organic growth.
Aspen also has a dedicated team that will help wealth management firms solve some of their talent issues. The firm will source talent on behalf of the RIAs, whether that’s operating, HR or finance staff. They’ll screen candidates, conduct all the interviews, and then bring them to the owners for the final decision.
They will also partner with owners to help with direct marketing and channel partnerships.
This follows other RIA acquisitions Aspen has completed, including SKY Investment Group, New England Private Wealth Advisors and Summitry.
Aspen is backed by private equity funding from Alpine Investors and has a staff of about 15.
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