Savant Pens Largest Deal Ever With $3.9B Heritage Financial RIA
Savant Wealth Management, a private equity-backed registered investment advisory firm overseeing about $44 billion in client assets, has acquired a Massachusetts-based wealth manager with $3.9 billion in assets under management. The partnership, which closed on Feb. 27, represents Savant’s largest deal to date since it became an active acquirer.
Heritage Financial had been employee-owned, with about 47 workers, including 20 financial advisors, operating from offices in Westwood, Woburn, and Rockland, Mass. Fifteen Heritage employees, including founder and Chairman Chuck Bean, who was the majority owner, according to the company’s Form ADV, and President and CEO Sammy Azzouz, join Savant as member-owners. The remaining members of the Heritage team will be Savant employees.
Bean said that Heritage’s board of directors started considering firms to join about a year ago.
“It was very important to find an independent, majority employee-owned and controlled RIA firm that was client-centric and culturally aligned with our firm,” he said.
Bean said Heritage had an internal succession plan in place, but decided that partnering with a larger RIA would provide “greater opportunities for our staff and deeper resources with additional services available for clients, such as facilitating more advanced estate planning, tax preparation, trustee services, family office services, and the ability to manage retirement plans, foundations, and endowments.”
Heritage had become familiar with Savant “through industry groups and study forums,” and Bean had known Brodeski for over 10 years.
The seller worked with Turkey Hill Management to facilitate the deal.
Heritage will continue to custody its clients with Charles Schwab after the transition, and will also now have Fidelity as an option via Savant, according to a spokesperson.
As with all Savant deals, Heritage will take on the Savant Wealth name and join the firm’s Form ADV. Savant, founded in 1986, is majority-owned by its employees but backed by minority stakes from Kelso & Company and The Cynosure Group. It has about $42.3 billion in assets under management and $1.7 billion in assets under advisement as of Feb. 28.
“As we celebrate 40 years in business, it’s especially meaningful to mark this milestone with our largest partnership to date,” Savant CEO Brett Brodeski said in a statement.
The partnership expands Savant’s Massachusetts presence to four offices. Nationally, Savant operates 50 offices across 21 states.