Focus Wraps Up Record Partnership, M&A Year

Tom Burroughes

21 January 2022

A US multi-family office and Californian tax, accounting and business management practice have joined the Focus Financial Partners cluster of wealth management organizations.

The groups, Provident Financial Management and London & Co, have joined as a Focus partner firm, taking the Provident Financial Management name. Provident has offices in Santa Monica, Woodland Hills, San Francisco and Nashville. London & Co is based in Los Angeles.

These transactions are expected to close simultaneously in 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, Focus said in a statement at the end of 2021.

Founded in 1982 by Barry Siegel and Bill Vuylsteke, Provident offers family office and business management services to clients including musicians, entertainers, actors and high net worth individuals. London, which is led by Philip London and Scott Adair, provides accountancy services including tax and tour accounting, as well as business management services to an array of entertainer and non-entertainer clients and businesses.

The combined firm will be led by Siegel, Vuylsteke, London and Adair, together with a group of managing directors from Provident including Ivan Axelrod, Pamula Johnson Solar, Bo Gardner, Jeffrey Turner, Joni Soekotjo, Dawn Nepp, Lisa Ferguson, Shelley Venemann, Larry Eibund, Barbara Karol, and Debra Dez.

Focus said that it had wrapped up a record year of M&A activity in 2021, adding 14 new partners and 24 mergers.

More than 200 such deals across the US were made as of early December 2021, according to DeVoe & Co, an investment bank and advisory firm in the space. RIA owners looking for scale, or an exit as retirement beckons, have been selling up to banks, private equity houses and aggregators. Buyers have sought to tap into still-expanding wealth management as a source of recurring revenue. Rising compliance and technology costs, plus expanding client demands, have also driven deals.