May 27, 2022
Louis Diamond Quoted
by Diana Britton
Integrated Partners, a Waltham, Mass.-based hybrid registered investment advisor with $13 billion in assets, may soon join the growing list of RIA acquirers. Rob Sandrew, Integrated’s Chief Growth Officer, recently said the firm expects to expand into the RIA M&A space for the first time since its founding in 1996.
Integrated has grown significantly over the last several years, increasing its assets from about $8 billion in 2019 to $13 billion today. Sandrew said the firm has been seeing larger teams interested in its model, with the average group joining having over $200 million in assets.
Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants, a financial advisor recruiting firm, said there’s a need in the RIA market for that type of a revenue-share model.
“There are some, but I think the industry could use more—I call them ‘platform acquirers,’” Diamond said. “Platforms like Integrated who can help an advisor monetize some of their business and take chips off the table, but still let the advisor run relatively autonomously. There’s a ton of roll-ups and aggregators who will buy you, pay you out, but then you’re kind of giving up your name and control.”
“Advisors do look to diversify their personal balance sheet, because with most advisors, their net worth is mostly their business. So it’s a way to take chips off the table, when valuations are still aggressive.”
