Hightower is no stranger to acquisitions, but its most current acquire is some thing of an anomaly.
“Money advisory enterprises need to think about how they can add new and distinctive benefit to their client associations,” says Bob Oros.
Courtesy of Hightower
Rather of the typical deal to get a registered investment advisor, Hightower has bought a California business that provides concierge economical services to rich purchasers.
With the obtain of Grant Tani Barash & Altman, Hightower is incorporating a small business-administration firm specializing in delivering what it calls “chief economical officer services” like bookkeeping, bill payment, and tax preparing for higher- and ultrahigh-web-really worth clients.
So it is not an RIA, but instead a service company that Hightower’s sprawling community of RIAs will be in a position to tap to offer you their very own purchasers a new established of solutions and greatly enhance their price proposition.
“We consider that to develop organically, fiscal advisory companies will have to take into account how they can add new and exclusive value to their shopper relationships—beyond the portfolio—to handle clients’ holistic demands,” Hightower CEO Bob Oros stated in an electronic mail. “This transaction is a important component of Hightower’s approach to offer seamless and personalised access to refined solutions to enhance our have faith in, estates, and other value-added capabilities.”
Centered in Los Angeles, Grant Tani Barash & Altman was itself an RIA at 1 place, but exited that company in 2017, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Trade Commission.
The agency was established in 1992, and has an considerable roster of clients—individuals, people, and companies—that consist of substantial-profile associates of the entertainment business, business enterprise proprietors, and business owners.
This form of non-RIA acquisition is not unparalleled for Hightower. In spring 2020, the firm obtained Wellspring Associates, which specializes in expert services like estate and tax planning for ultrahigh-net-really worth shoppers.
Oros declined to remark on the phrases of the most current deal, except to say that the sale included a combine of money and equity, and that “the principals manage strategic and administration management of the small business.”
The acquisition matches with Hightower’s ongoing initiatives to establish out the menu of services it presents its advisors, spanning almost everything from tax scheduling to philanthropy. In this situation, it is adding a concierge provider for substantial-end consumers to take care of their quotidian fiscal jobs.
“At Hightower, 40{797b2db22838fb4c5c6528cb4bf0d5060811ff68c73c9b00453f5f3f4ad9306b} of our belongings are from people with $15 million or much more in property,” Oros explained. “Partnering with Grant Tani Barash & Altman will permit our advisors to achieve direct, streamlined accessibility to a really respected small business management service provider that can fulfill the complicated, day-to-working day fiscal requirements of their purchasers and their family members.”
The moment the integration is entire, the concierge services will be out there to all Hightower advisors in the exact centralized design that the agency presents its other specialised solutions. Oros pointed out that even though some Hightower advisors have been dabbling with the concierge principle, these offerings aren’t extensively readily available to other advisors on the system as a assistance model.
“While some of our advisory organizations offer you factors of concierge enterprise administration, in get to deliver a entire-provider giving to our advisors and purchasers at scale we selected to make a strategic financial commitment in a best-notch, set up small business-administration organization with 80 staff members delivering these expert services currently,” Oros stated. “Given how numerous ultrahigh-net-worthy of clients we have, we hope to have superior utilization as we combine this and roll it out.”
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