As consolidation continues to reshape the wealth administration business, two fast-growing companies expressed completely different methods in how they’re pursuing purchasers and scale.
On the annual Goldman Sachs RIA Skilled Investor Discussion board, Goldman stated natural progress is the centerpiece of its progress technique, whereas Hightower, a Chicago RIA aggregator with about $352 billion in shopper property, unabashedly leaned into its inorganic strategy to gasoline an aggressive acquisition technique.
Larry Restieri, CEO of Hightower, spoke on a panel with different high RIAs, together with Cresset Capital, Dynasty Monetary Companions and NewEdge Wealth.
“Everyone downstairs or all people right here at this convention is targeted on natural progress,” Restieri stated. “We’ll proceed down the inorganic path as a result of I believe there’re lots of alternatives right here. And I believe a scaled participant like us does have some aggressive benefits.”
One such benefit, the CEO cited, is the recognition of Stephanie Hyperlink, the agency’s chief strategist and CNBC star.
Restieri famous that his agency, based in 2007, was one of many authentic aggregators and have become a “serial aggregator” beneath Bos Oros from 2019 via 2025, as non-public fairness flowed into the business.
Restieri grew to become the third CEO of the RIA final summer time, changing Oros, who stays on the board of administrators. Now, beneath what he calls “Hightower 3.0,” it’s “actually about how we combine the agency, how can we sort of transfer up the worth chain and supply extra providers to advisors,” he stated.
The CEO informed Monetary Advisor early this yr that Hightower is morphing into extra of an integrator of acquired RIAs and performing much less like a pure aggregator.
Restieri’s greatest transformative transfer to date has been the October launch of Hightower Signature Wealth (HTSW), the RIA’s first direct-to-consumer model. The channel enhances Hightower’s current mannequin by providing an built-in platform that helps advisors maximize effectivity and streamline operations, firm officers say.
On the convention, the CEO stated he expects that Hightower Signature will develop to $50 billion in property by the tip of the yr, from $30 billion now. Restieri is shopping for practices each contained in the agency’s community and outdoors.
In its most up-to-date deal, Hightower acquired Massachusetts-based Lexington Wealth Administration and added it to HTSW. The agency manages about $3.2 billion in property.
“We actually are going to proceed down the trail of inorganic progress,” Restieri stated. “However now having truly a branded, absolutely built-in agency inside our complicated, I believe simply supplies one other avenue for us to develop.”
Goldman expressed a contrasting fashion.
“We’re primarily centered on our natural technique,” Marc Nachmann, international head of asset and wealth administration at Goldman, informed an viewers of greater than 120 business executives. “We really feel there’s lots of progress for us each within the wealth and asset administration facet on an natural foundation. So, we’re taking a look at inorganic M&A alternatives very, very selectively. I believe they’re arduous to make work.”
He famous that the 2 acquisitions Goldman made final yr—Trade Ventures, a number one enterprise capital platform that invests in companies and funds throughout all phases of the enterprise capital life cycle, and Innovator Capital Administration, a big RIA sponsor of lively and outlined final result exchange-traded funds—have been “very manageable.”
One of many companies had 30 individuals and the opposite 70, he stated, and each provided “adjoining merchandise” with none overlap.
“There is no huge value equation in there. It is all about progress, and it is including product capabilities and experience the place we noticed one plus one equals three,” Nachmann stated. “In different phrases, we are able to develop quicker with them as a part of Goldman Sachs than with out them.”
