Deals Of The Day: The Latest In Wealth Management M&A - Hightower, Stearns Financial

Tom Burroughes

26 August 2020

Hightower has made a ”strategic investment” in Stearns Financial Group, a $1.3 billion wealth management firm based in North Carolina. The deal follows Hightower’s recent similar investment in Private Vista, the Illinois-based wealth management business, and in a business in the Dallas area.

Established in 1991, Stearns Financial Group will use Hightower's operational infrastructure, business owner planning, marketing support, family office and investment management resources to enhance service to new and existing clients.

SFG is Hightower's sixth transaction this year, taking Hightower’s advisory business collection to 111 businesses in 33 states.

With offices in Chapel Hill and Greensboro, North Carolina, SFG has 32 staff, including 12 advisors, who serve business owners, executives, multi-generational families, women in transition, and the emerging affluent.

"Hightower gives us access to an even broader array of wealth management, family office and trust options," Haleh Moddasser, a senior wealth advisor and partner at SFG, said. "While we plan to maintain our own investment team and thus make the most appropriate portfolio decisions for our clients, we will also be discussing how to utilize the additional tools and resources they provide. Stearns Financial Group will remain a fiduciary wealth management firm, providing the advice and solutions our clients need as they work toward realizing their goals."

As of June 30, 2020, Hightower's assets under administration were approximately $75.7 billion and its assets under management were $56.7 billion.

The transaction is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.