Mariner Wealth Advisors has made its largest RIA acquisition to date to bring aboard a longtime business partner and friend of CEO Marty Bicknell.
The consolidator is buying AdvicePeriod, a Los Angeles-based RIA with $5.1 billion in assets under management. With backing from private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, which owns a minority stake in Mariner, AdvicePeriod’s equity holders will exchange their interests in the firm for a stake in the new combined entity. AdvicePeriod will retain its brand and founders Steve Lockshin, Jonathan Straub and Marc Russell will remain principals. The deal is expected to close August 31.
The merger formally brings together Bicknell and Lockshin, two of the biggest names in the advisor fintech world. The pair were early investors in robo advice startup Betterment, took a stake in data aggregation firm Quovo (which sold to Plaid in 2019), and backed direct indexing firm Just Invest (which was acquired by Vanguard last week). Bicknell and Lockshin are also invested in Altruist, a digital custodian startup, and Vanilla, an estate planning platform.
“Steve and I have been friends for a long time and have had conversations on and off again. I’ve been pursuing him forever,” Bicknell says.
It’s no surprise to see the two fintech investors partner up, says Ryan Shanks, co-founder and CEO of FA Match, a digital recruiting platform for advisors that Lockshin has invested in.
“They are friends and it makes sense to align their interests so that they can innovate together versus in competition,” Shanks says.
The acquisition comes just one week after Mariner acquired Allegiant Private Advisors, a $1 billion RIA in Sarasota, Florida. The company isn’t done yet and has already signed a few more deals yet to be announced, according to Bicknell, who in April said his firm would use the private equity infusion from Leonard Green to make a dozen acquisitions.
Mariner now has $43 billion in assets under advisement and has visions of becoming one of the largest RIAs in the nation.
“I’m a firm believer that there’s going to be two, three, maybe four firms that will be able to go head-to-head with the wirehouses from a size perspective,” Bicknell says. “There’s no reason that can’t be Mariner, and that’s our goal.”
As at wirehouses, advisors can join AdvicePeriod as W-2 employees, owning and running their own book of business while using the AdvicePeriod brand and technology. Mariner plans to incorporate this model while also allowing advisors to join as 1099 independent contractors under Mariner Platform Solutions.
The firms also plan to expand and modernize their trust-company services, increase access to tax services and business management, and launch a law firm for clients’ estate planning needs.
“This is the ideal opportunity to paint on a bigger canvas and with more resources,” Lockshin said in a statement. “The united firm will continue to transform the industry by delivering solutions, transparency and technology that raise the bar for our clients and our peers.”