Wealth Management Acquisitions in Virginia

Cerity Partners, a New York–based independent wealth management firm, announced a merger with Oak Hill Wealth Advisors of Lansdowne, Virginia. The deal expands Cerity Partners' presence in the Washington, D.C. market and brings Oak Hill's team (seven professionals) and wealth management capabilities into the Cerity platform.

MAI Capital Management has acquired Halpern Financial, a fee-only RIA with approximately $1.2 billion in client AUM and offices in Ashburn, Virginia and Rockville, Maryland (with a presence in Naples, Florida). Terms were not disclosed; Halpern's founder Ted Halpern will become a regional president and the firm will adopt MAI's branding and internal infrastructure to support growth and expand MAI's regional footprint.

Boston-based registered investment advisor CW Advisors (CWA) has partnered with Agili, a fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm, adding $1.2 billion of assets under management. Agili's offices in Richmond, Virginia and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania will remain open; Agili President Michael Joyce will become the combined firm's executive managing director and Mid-Atlantic leader. The terms were undisclosed; the deal is CWA's fourth and largest since partnering with Audax Private Equity in June 2023.

Steward Partners Global Advisory has agreed to acquire the wealth management business of FSP Enterprise LLC (d/b/a Freedom Street Partners). The deal brings Freedom Street's network of 38 financial advisors and $3.2 billion in client assets into Steward Partners as the foundation of a new "owned business" division to expand Steward's advisor-acquisition and succession capabilities and accelerate regional expansion.

Alera Group, a national insurance, wealth and retirement services firm based in Deerfield, Illinois, acquired Virginia Beach–based The Ascent Group and its affiliated companies (Summit Group and Walsh & Nicholson Financial Group). The deal adds approximately $1.5 billion in RIA assets and $1.3 billion in retirement plan assets to Alera’s wealth and retirement plan services divisions and brings about 42 employees (including 15 advisors) into Alera’s platform.

Modera Wealth Management expanded into Northern Virginia by acquiring the Bernhardt Wealth Management team in November 2022. The entire Bernhardt team (including Gordon Bernhardt, Tim Koehl and Solon Vlasto) joined Modera to strengthen Modera’s fee-only wealth management footprint and client service capabilities in Virginia.

SageView Advisory Group completed the acquisition of Capital One Investing, a $900 million wealth management business formerly owned by Capital One Financial Corporation. The deal transferred advisors, associates and accounts to SageView (supported by private-equity partner Aquiline) and expands SageView’s retirement-plan and wealth-management capabilities and AUM.

Dakota Wealth Management has acquired Pineno Levin & Ford Asset Management, Inc.; InCap Group served as exclusive financial advisor to PLF. Pineno Levin & Ford, a Richmond-based independent wealth advisory firm with about $400 million AUM, will join Dakota's platform, bringing several PLF principals on as equity partners and increasing Dakota's assets under management to roughly $2.5 billion.

Cresset Asset Management has combined with Reston, Virginia-based PagnatoKarp, adding PagnatoKarp’s $2.3 billion in AUM to create a combined RIA with $9.5 billion in assets and eight offices. The deal brings PagnatoKarp’s team into Cresset and expands Cresset’s wealth management and family office capabilities and scale.