Following this deal, Beacon Pointe Advisors will have acquired about $8 billion in AuM, highlighting how M&A has been a driver of growth for part of the RIA space in recent months.

Beacon Pointe Advisors, based in California’s Newport Beach, has acquired Stonegate Capital Advisors - its seventh business in Arizona. Combined, the two offices have over $2.1 billion in AuM. 

The acquisition also follows shortly after a deal with a Seattle-area firm.

Scotsdale-based Stonegate, which oversees $430 million in assets under management, will merge with Beacon Pointe’s existing Scottsdale office while maintaining a second location in the southern area of the Scottsdale region.

The sole owner of Stonegate, Jameson Van Houten, is joining the team of partners and managing directors in the Arizona office as its sixth partner.

"Our very first M&A deal was with Bruce Meyer over a decade ago creating our original Arizona office," Matt Cooper, president of Beacon Pointe Advisors, said. "This office is now a success model of multiple acquisitions integrating partners that are great culture fits, and we'll continue to look for more of these merger and acquisition opportunities in other regional markets across the country."

The transaction is part of a wider RIA/multi-family office mergers and acquisitions trend that this publication has been tracking. In recent weeks, some of the focus has shifted towards deals involving multi-family offices and firms operating in the ultra-high net worth end of the spectrum. 

The Stonegate business was founded in 2002 by Van Houten, working in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area. Alongside Jameson, additional Stonegate members who will be joining Beacon Pointe include Sean Mahoney, Liam Powell, Todd Ruble, Joshua Lustbader and Patricia Lundquist.

Van Houten has almost 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Jameson graduated summa cum laude from the Barrett Honors College of Arizona State University. He holds the Certified Financial Planner™ designation. Most recently, Jameson was appointed by the Mayor of Paradise Valley to serve as chairman of the board for the Paradise Valley Public Safety Retirement Plan.

The Stonegate acquisition closed on Sept 30, 2021; financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Including the Stonegate acquisition, Beacon Pointe has acquired about $8 billion in AuM through its acquisitions.