The acquirer, based in Rockford, Illinois, oversees more than $10.5 billion in assets under advisement/management.

Savant Wealth Management, the US wealth manager headquartered in Rockford, Illinois, has agreed to buy AMDG Financial (FAS), a fee-only RIA serving nearly 300 clients, and AMDG Business Advisory Services (BAS), a tax and accounting firm. 

Both businesses are located in Plymouth, Michigan. The acquisition will expand Savant’s national footprint and mark the firm’s formal entry into the Michigan market, Savant said in a statement yesterday.

With assets under management of nearly $250 million, AMDG Financial has served the greater Detroit area along with AMDG Business Advisory Services since 2002. The firms’ employees join Savant’s team of more than 200 employees, with AMDG’s five equity partners joining as owners. Savant serves more than 6,500 clients and manages $10.5 billion in assets.

Savant said the deal “challenges the conventional M&A approach by demonstrating Savant’s commitment to building a culture of excellence and growth, as well as its desire to partner with firms interested in growing, addressing succession planning needs, and enhancing the value proposition they offer to clients, team members, and the communities they serve.”

The agreement comes at a time of continued vigorous M&A activity in the RIA space, driven by a desire to build scale and depth amidst rising regulatory costs and client expectations. In Savant’s case, this is the first deal it has agreed in a year and a half. One issue may be that firms of Savant's size are challenged in getting deals done because of competition from acquisition-hungry big hitters such as Canada’s CI Financial and their larger wallets. RIA merger and acquisition activity crossed the century mark less than six months into 2021, according to research from DeVoe & Company, issued yesterday. “This important milestone speaks to the broader trend of accelerating momentum,” David DeVoe, Founder and CEO, DeVoe & Company,” said. 

M&A strategy
In 2019, Savant put together a team of figures in the M&A space to help it find suitable targets and build partnerships with firms looking for an alternative, it said, to RIA aggregators and “roll-up” firms backed by private equity.

“Unlike traditional M&A approaches, Savant seeks partnerships that blend culture, talent, and expertise to make us – and the RIA industry – better,” Brent Brodeski, CEO of Savant, said. “AMDG Financial is a prospering independent RIA with a focus on integrating tax, financial and investment strategies with AMDG Business Advisory Services. The firm’s founding partner, Wayne Titus, CPA/PFS, AIFA®, shared with us AMDG’s vision to provide additional resources to clients and growth opportunities to employees. We were impressed by AMDG’s talented team and commitment to clients and knew a partnership could benefit all of our clients, Savant and AMDG.”

“Savant’s M&A philosophy is different from the transactional deals you typically see throughout the RIA industry,” said Kevin Hrdlicka, chief operating officer and the M&A integration process lead at Savant.
“This is intentional as we seek partners with new perspectives and areas of expertise that complement our work. We don’t want to be known as the biggest RIA. We want to be known as the best RIA in the nation.”

Savant Wealth Management, formerly known as Savant Capital Management, oversees more than $10.5 billion in assets under management and assets under advisement. Savant is headquartered in Rockford, IL, with locations in Bloomington, Chicago, Downers Grove, Freeport, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnshire, Naperville, Peoria, St. Charles, Sterling, and Wilmette, IL; Phoenix, AZ; Santa Fe, NM; Madison and Park Falls, WI; and McLean, VA.