Clearstead Acquires $2.6B Team From myCIO Wealth
Clearstead Advisors, a Cleveland-based registered investment advisor with $68 billion in client assets, has acquired a nine-person Philadelphia-based team from RIA myCIO Wealth Partners. The team manages about $2.6 billion in assets and advises on $2.7 billion in institutional funds.
The move closed on June 30. The team is led by Senior Partner Paul Bracaglia and senior advisors Phil Bonelli, Michael Finelli, Bruce Fenster and Jackson Davey. The five of them will become Clearstead partners.
“We share a planning-led approach to wealth management,” Bracaglia said of Clearstead. “It allows us to join a national organization with substantial resources and capabilities, while continuing to build on the client-centric culture that has defined and shaped our team’s success.”
Clearstead sealed the deal a few months after hiring Shuan McCracken to a new role as managing director of M&A. McCracken joined from insurance brokerage Acrisure, where he was director of mergers and acquisitions.
Clearstead is led by CEO Brad Knapp and has been owned by Chicago-based private equity firm Flexpoint Ford since 2022. Following the firm’s latest transaction, Clearstead’s asset count will grow to about $68 billion, including $37 billion under management.
The deal marks its second plus-$5 billion move this year, following its acquisition in February of a multi-family office in Seattle that had overseen about $5.1 billion in assets.
Colchester Partners was the financial advisor to myCIO Wealth Partners in the deal. That firm provides consulting services for individuals, families, endowments, and defined contribution and benefit plans. It serves as the chief investment officer for many of its clients, with specialized expertise in alternative investments and fiduciary liability. It was formerly Ernst & Young’s Philadelphia Investment Advisory Practice.
Senior Partner David Lees and partner and CFO Adrian Verueco will continue leading the firm.
“We wish the departing business success in their new partnership with Clearstead,” Lees said in a statement.