Tim Jester
In its first merger, a longtime West End financial firm has joined forces with a company from Beantown.
Wealth management firm CapGroup Advisors, founded in Richmond in the 1980s, has been merged into Boston-based Colony Group. The deal was finalized March 1 and combines CapGroup’s $1.2 billion in assets under management with Colony Group’s $4 billion.
“This creates for us a total firm at $5 billion in assets that really puts us in another league,” said J. Timothy Jester, who had been managing director at CapGroup and is now director of the combined company’s institutional advisory practice in Richmond.
Colony Group Chairman and CEO Michael Nathanson said his firm was attracted by CapGroup’s established wealth management portfolio of high net worth clients and its institutional practice that provides advice to other financial institutions.
“In my mind, this is a transaction that will make us tremendously successful and quite formidable nationally going forward,” Nathanson said.
Both companies are owned by Focus Financial Partners, a New York-based umbrella company that owns wealth management firms around the country.
The firms would not discuss financial specifics of the merger. Nathanson said the transaction was structured in a way to benefit all involved, including Focus Financial Partners. The combined firm remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Focus Financial.
As part of the deal, the CapGroup brand has been phased out in favor of Colony Group. CapGroup’s office in Richmond at 7100 Forest Ave. will remain, as will its 12 employees.
Nathanson said the company plans to grow the Richmond office.
Michael Nathanson
The combined firms now have 84 employees and offices in Boston; Norwell, Massachusetts; New York City; Armonk, New York; Naples, Florida; and Richmond.
The firms’ structure under Focus Financial is somewhat complicated. While it is 100 percent owned by Focus, Colony Group is independently operated by key employees through a separate entity outside of Focus, Nathanson said.
The setup results in a “sharing of economics” between Focus and its subsidiary firms, but the company doesn’t disclose how revenue and profits are shared, Nathanson said.
Firms join the Focus Financial umbrella for access to consulting, continuity planning and capital. The company as a whole manages about $60 billion in client assets.
CapGroup was founded by Dick Smith in the early ‘80s, Jester said. Smith has since retired from active management but still serves on the firm’s investment committee.
This is the first merger that CapGroup has been involved in. Colony Group has previously absorbed three other firms in deals that were financed by Focus Financial, Nathanson said.
CapGroup is at least the second local financial firm to be involved in a merger or acquisition in 2015. Dorsey, Wright & Associates struck a deal in January to be acquired by Nasdaq for $225 million.
Tim Jester
In its first merger, a longtime West End financial firm has joined forces with a company from Beantown.
Wealth management firm CapGroup Advisors, founded in Richmond in the 1980s, has been merged into Boston-based Colony Group. The deal was finalized March 1 and combines CapGroup’s $1.2 billion in assets under management with Colony Group’s $4 billion.
“This creates for us a total firm at $5 billion in assets that really puts us in another league,” said J. Timothy Jester, who had been managing director at CapGroup and is now director of the combined company’s institutional advisory practice in Richmond.
Colony Group Chairman and CEO Michael Nathanson said his firm was attracted by CapGroup’s established wealth management portfolio of high net worth clients and its institutional practice that provides advice to other financial institutions.
“In my mind, this is a transaction that will make us tremendously successful and quite formidable nationally going forward,” Nathanson said.
Both companies are owned by Focus Financial Partners, a New York-based umbrella company that owns wealth management firms around the country.
The firms would not discuss financial specifics of the merger. Nathanson said the transaction was structured in a way to benefit all involved, including Focus Financial Partners. The combined firm remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Focus Financial.
As part of the deal, the CapGroup brand has been phased out in favor of Colony Group. CapGroup’s office in Richmond at 7100 Forest Ave. will remain, as will its 12 employees.
Nathanson said the company plans to grow the Richmond office.
Michael Nathanson
The combined firms now have 84 employees and offices in Boston; Norwell, Massachusetts; New York City; Armonk, New York; Naples, Florida; and Richmond.
The firms’ structure under Focus Financial is somewhat complicated. While it is 100 percent owned by Focus, Colony Group is independently operated by key employees through a separate entity outside of Focus, Nathanson said.
The setup results in a “sharing of economics” between Focus and its subsidiary firms, but the company doesn’t disclose how revenue and profits are shared, Nathanson said.
Firms join the Focus Financial umbrella for access to consulting, continuity planning and capital. The company as a whole manages about $60 billion in client assets.
CapGroup was founded by Dick Smith in the early ‘80s, Jester said. Smith has since retired from active management but still serves on the firm’s investment committee.
This is the first merger that CapGroup has been involved in. Colony Group has previously absorbed three other firms in deals that were financed by Focus Financial, Nathanson said.
CapGroup is at least the second local financial firm to be involved in a merger or acquisition in 2015. Dorsey, Wright & Associates struck a deal in January to be acquired by Nasdaq for $225 million.