The deal comes at a busy time for Hightower, which has taken stakes in a number of firms across the US this year.

Hightower has made a strategic investment in Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management, a $1 billion wealth management firm based in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Founded in 2012, Landsberg Bennett is led by firm principals Michael Landsberg, Lew Bennett and Anthony Dubbaneh. Its 14 employees include five advisors specializing in serving the financial management needs of new retirees, physicians, attorneys, business owners and executives.

The firm also has two brands serving different client demographics: Landsberg Bennett focuses on ultra-high net worth and high net worth clients, while its sister brand, Hibiscus Investments, serves the needs of mass affluent clients with less than $1 million of investible assets. This model allows the firm to serve a broad array of clients effectively, while also offering the structure for a next-generation training program.

“Landsberg Bennett is a highly successful firm with an impressive management team, a strong bench of next-gen leaders, and a deep understanding of marketing and brand which has fueled the firm’s double-digit organic growth rate,” Hightower chairman and CEO Bob Oros, said.

As of June 30, Hightower's assets under administration were around $125.2 billion, and its assets under management were $101 billion.

The transaction, in which Landsberg Bennett was advised by Advisor Growth Strategies, LLC, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

The deal comes at a busy time for Hightower. In September Hightower took a stake in Arlington, Virginia-based Alexandria Capital, a $1.5 billion advisory business with offices in New York City, Boston, Portland, Oregon, and Juneau, Alaska. The move adds to a number acquisitions and new service offerings that Chicago-based Hightower has made in recent months. 

In June the firm won conditional regulatory approval to transform its Texas-based trust company into a nationally chartered trust company. In January this year Hightower made a strategic stake in New York-based Siller & Cohen Family Wealth Advisors, an $830 million wealth management firm in Rye Brook, New York. In late July it acquired Farr, Miller & Washington, a $2 billion (assets under management) wealth management firm based in Washington, DC with offices in Naples, Florida, and Devon, Pennsylvania.

The deals highlight a continued busy trend of mergers and acquisitions in the North American wealth management sector.