Mergers and acquisitions and advisor recruiting have stayed strong this summer in the registered investment advisor and broker/dealer space.
Below are just some of the biggest deals and moves announced in recent days during a year that Echelon Partners estimates will set a new record for the sector in 2025.
Sanctuary Wealth Affiliate mForce Launches $400M RIA
Sanctuary Wealth, a Miami-based hybrid registered investment advisor with about $50 billion in assets, announced Tuesday that its mFORCE Capital partner firm is launching a new RIA from a team formerly with Truist Investment Services.
Forth Worth, Texas-based Fossil Rock has opened shop as an mFORCE RIA under founder and manager Larry Milton, who had been a wealth advisor with Merrill Lynch and BB&T Securities before affiliating with Truist in 2021. The firm oversees about $400 million in client assets.
Milton and his team, which includes senior wealth advisor Robert Brown and other staff members, will be joining with former Merrill Lynch Managing Director Bradley Bruce.
Bruce launched mFORCE in 2021 and is CEO of the Sanctuary partner, which oversees $1.9 billion in assets. Fossil Rock will be a separate entity under the mFORCE umbrella.
“Larry and I enjoy a 35-year business and personal relationship that began way back in our Merrill days,” Bruce said in a statement. “He’s been extremely successful over his career, and when he decided it was time to go independent, I jumped at the chance to work with him again as a partner.”
Vince Fertitta, president of wealth management at Sanctuary Wealth, is also a Merrill alum.
Milton said in a statement that he had considered a “range of options” when going independent, but chose mFORCE partly due to his relationship with Brad and what he sees as the chance to offer more family office capability and wider services for small business clients.
Sanctuary Wealth has backing from Azimut, an Italian asset manager, and Kennedy Lewis Investment Management.
Wealth Enhancement Snags $164M Manwaring Wealth
Wealth Enhancement, the Minneapolis-based mega RIA with $117.65 billion in client assets, has made its ninth acquisition of 2025 with a $164 million firm based in Gilbert, Ariz.
The deal for Manwaring Wealth Management marks Wealth Enhancement’s third in the state and adds to its 152 offices nationally.
Founder and wealth advisor Joshua Manwaring leads the acquired firm, specializing in financial planning, retirement income planning, and tax and estate planning.
Wealth Enhancement is backed by private equity firms Onex Partners and TA Associates. It ranks among the top M&A acquirers in the space by deal volume, according to a recent report by consultancy Marshberry.
Carson Acquires $353M Wealth Partner in Pa.
Carson Group, an RIA with more than $45 billion in assets and a national partner network, has acquired one of those partner firms with client assets of $353 million.
A Carson Wealth location in Doylestown, Pa., is now Carson’s 30th wholly-owned office in the United States. The group will continue to be led by managing partner and wealth advisor Mick Edwards, and include partner and wealth advisors Janet Barrett and Scott Wetherbee, along with eight other staff members. Advisor Karl Kimball will be retiring in the transition.
“At a time when valuations for firms like ours are at historic highs, we knew this was the right move to ensure long-term growth and opportunity,” Edwards said in a statement.
The Omaha, Neb.-based Carson has been steadily attracting partner firms into its wholly owned network by offering expanded services and resources.
“As a wholly owned location, they’ll now have access to the full ecosystem of Carson resources, including holistic tax and estate planning, advanced investment strategies and robust technology—all while maintaining the heart and soul of what makes their client relationships so special,” CEO Burt White said in a statement.
Carson has minority investment backing from Bain Capital.
Osaic Recruits Ex-LPL Affiliated Advisors
Osaic has brought over three LPL Financial advisors who manage a combined $175 million in client assets.
Bowman Financial Solutions, led by CEO and founder Brent Bowman, is now an Osaic-affiliated firm based in North Carolina with OSJ Alpha Omega Wealth Partners.
He and his team will bring over $73 million in assets under administration and will work with Alpha Omega Managing Partner Russell Hadley, according to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Osaic. Bowman had been with LPL for about five years after moving from Woodbury Financial Services, which later became an Osaic broker/dealer, according to BrokerCheck.
According to the announcement, Bowman clients won’t see any investment strategy changes but will get “enhanced infrastructure and support—ensuring greater flexibility and long-term growth potential.”
Separately, Osaic announced that Payne Financial Consultants had left LPL to also join Alpha Omega. That group, led by David Payne, has about $102 million in client assets under administration and is based in Statesville, N.C.
Payne’s sons, Zach Payne, an investment specialist, and Andrew Payne, a client relationship specialist, will join him.
“We’ve known and respected Russell’s team for years,” Payne said in a statement. “Their understanding of how to support a high-touch, service-oriented firm like ours made Alpha Omega, and Osaic, the natural choice.”
PE firm Reverence Capital Partners owns Osaic, which has a network of about 11,000 financial advisors.
Cetera Gains Advisor With About $380M From LPL OSJ
Financial advisor Susan Wilkinson is leaving LPL OSJ Private Advisor Group after 17 years to affiliate with broker/dealer Cetera’s Summit Financial Network.
Wilkinson and her 12-person team at Charlottesville, Va.-based Wilkinson Wealth Management will bring over about $380 million in assets under administration to the Cetera network of partners.
“We were looking for a team that could help us serve our clients, and especially with Summit, they have that culture of excellence and that culture of white-glove service we can align with because that’s what we try to bring to our clients,” Wilkinson said in a statement.
Cetera is majority-owned by private equity firm Genstar.
First Manhattan Adds $350M NJ-Based RIA
First Manhattan, a New York City-based investment advisory firm overseeing more than $34 billion in client assets, has acquired New Jersey-based Roanoke Asset Management along with its more than $350 million in client AUM.
Edwin Vroom and Adele Weisman will join First Manhattan as senior managing directors and portfolio managers. Vroom founded Roanoke back in 1978, and Weisman joined in 1981 to co-manage the firm as a partner.
“Joining First Manhattan is a continuation of what we’ve always believed in: putting clients first and maintaining a disciplined, long-term view,” Vroom said in a statement. “We are excited to access the Firm’s independent research capabilities while preserving the direct, personal relationships that have defined our work.”
First Manhattan was founded in 1964 and is independently owned and operated.
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