This transaction is the largest that the 12-year-old wealth management group has so far executed. It demonstrates that the M&A trend in North America remains strong.

Hightower, the US wealth management group, has acquired Bel Air Investment Advisors from Montreal-based Fiera Capital Corporation, snapping up a business with $8 billion in assets under management - its largest ever.

Hightower did not disclose the purchase price when asked by this news service.

Bel Air Investment Advisors is based in Los Angeles and serves ultra-high net worth individuals, families, trusts and foundations with $20 million or more in investible assets. The firm has a total of 43 employees, including ten advisors. It was founded in 1997 and bought by Fiera Capital Corporation in 2013. The acquisition means that the firm has returned to private ownership.

Todd Morgan, Bel Air’s chairman, started his career at Goldman Sachs, and is a co-founder of that business.

As reported here yesterday, US investment bank and consultancy ECHELON Partners showed that wealth management M&A - at least as it touches on the RIA sector - has been on a tear, with total transactions rising despite, or maybe even because of, the pandemic. A number of forces are pushing industry deals, including a desire for more economies of scale to handle rising costs. 

Including Bel Air Investment Advisors, Hightower's M&A team has completed 14 such transactions since early 2019. As of September 30, 2020, Hightower's assets under administration were about $81.4 billion and its AuM was $61.6 billion. Hightower has 114 advisory businesses in 33 states.

RBC Capital Markets and Stifel GMP gave financial advice to Fiera Capital and helped Bel Air management to structure the Hightower partnership.