Classic Capital, based in Short Hills, NJ, has merged with Buckingham Asset Management, a Focus Financial partner firm headquartered in St Louis, MO.

The merger brings Buckingham additional scale and increases its total locations to eight.

Founded by Jay Leonard in 1989, Classic Capital provides investment management and financial planning services to individuals, families and institutional retirement plans.

In 2013, Leonard signed a Focus Successions agreement with Buckingham to put in place a business continuity plan for his clients.

Two years later, the parties recognized the complementary nature of the businesses, and decided that Classic Capital would formally merge with Buckingham as part of Leonard’s retirement and client transition plan.

While Leonard will continue managing his clients’ assets, the partnership with Buckingham “affords him the peace of mind in knowing that his clients are protected for the future,” Focus said.

Classic Capital will assume the Buckingham name, and two associates will join the Buckingham team as employees based in Short Hills.

Advisors participating in the patent-pending Focus Successions® Program choose if and/or when to activate the succession plan, and, if so, agree in advance to the terms under which a transition would occur.

Launched in 2013, this program currently has more than 50 firms signed aggregating over $5 billion in client assets.