Lightyear-Backed Wealth Enhancement Group Buys $350 Million Retirement Advisory Practice
Wealth Enhancement Group, an independent wealth management firm backed by Lightyear Capital that oversees $8.9 billion in client assets, has agreed to purchase Retirement Strategies Inc.
Wealth Enhancement Group, an independent wealth management firm backed by Lightyear Capital that oversees $8.9 billion in client assets, has agreed to purchase Retirement Strategies Inc., an independent financial advisory practice with more than $350 million in client assets based in Jacksonville, Florida. The transaction is expected to close in September 2018. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 1994, Retirement Strategies is led by partners Bill Carr, Bill Hart and Mary Beth Neeley, and focuses on providing holistic financial planning and investment management services for investors who are planning for retirement.
Retirement Strategies’ 13 team members include seven employees with the certified financial planner certification, as well as an investment research and portfolio manager who holds the chartered financial analyst designation.
“This second acquisition in the Jacksonville market reflects our belief that scale matters for our business on both the national and local levels and is in line with achieving a multi-billion-dollar level of client assets in each region where we establish a presence,” said Jeff Dekko, chief executive officer of Wealth Enhancement Group. “Our company’s success in driving growth both organically and through acquisitions is in no small part thanks to our unique approach of providing team-based financial planning, portfolio management, and back office efficiencies.”
Wealth Enhancement Group noted that it achieved organic growth of more than $1 billion in client assets in 2017 and conducted seven acquisitions in the last five years.
In 2013, the firm acquired Summit Wealth Advisors in Chicago. It made two acquisitions in 2016, with HHG & Company in Darien, Connecticut, and Sound Financial Solutions in Houston, Texas. CLA Financial Advisors in Chicago and CPA Retirement Planning in Jacksonville, Florida came onboard in 2017, and the firm acquired Cimino Wealth Advisors in Clinton, Wisconsin earlier this year.
Wealth Enhancement Group is based in Greater Minneapolis and offers comprehensive and customized financial planning and investment management services nationwide, with offices in Florida, New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas. The firm is backed by Lightyear Capital, LLC, a private equity firm specializing in financial services investing.
