Adviser Investments and Kobren Insight Management, both Massachusetts-based firms, have merged to form a combined indepedent wealth management business.

The new company, which will keep the Adviser Investments name, will have some $2 billion in assets under management for around 2,000 clients, and employ around 45 professionals.

It will manage portfolios of mutual funds, exchange traded funds, bonds, and variable annuities for individual investors, trusts, institutions, and foundations.

Staff at the new firm will include Rusty Vanneman, Kobren’s chief investment officer; Chris Keith, Kobren’s fixed-income strategist; Dan Wiener, founder and chairman of Adviser Investments; and Jim Lowell, Adviser's chief investment officer.

Both Boston-area advisory firms, Adviser Investments was founded in 1994 and Kobren was founded in 1987.