Corient Continues Spending Drive, Acquires Palo Alto Firm

Editorial Staff

29 January 2026

Corient, which has expanded rapidly by as number of large M&A deals, is continuing its spending drive. This week, it announced that it is buying Palo Alto Wealth Advisors, a Palo Alto, California-based RIA with $766.7 million in assets under management. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The RIA was formed by Ryan Schmidt and Nate Blair. The team members have joined Corient, which is headquartered in Miami.

“Corient’s partnership model gives us the best of both worlds,” Ryan Schmidt, partner at Palo Alto Wealth Advisors, said. “We maintain our client-focused, fiduciary approach while gaining access to deeper expertise and broader capabilities – including tax, trust, and family office services – that meaningfully enhance how we can serve technology entrepreneurs and their families.”

Last fall, Corient bought Bristlecone Advisors, a Bellevue, Washington-based RIA. Bristlecone, which was founded in 1999, has about $2 billion in assets under management.

As reported here, in early September, Corient said it was buying two European multi-family offices, Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital. And a few days later, it bought Breed’s Hill Capital, a Boston-based MFO with about $3.5 billion in assets under management. In January this year, Corient acquired US-based Geller’s multi-family office business.