The addition of PPA Advisors brings to United Capital $224 million in assets under management, plus $122 million under advisement, along with a team of nine professionals. The office will be rebranded as United Capital and will be managed under the leadership of four managing directors: Ross Ramsey, R Corley Watson, Randy Berry and Charles Costa.  

PPA Advisors was founded in 1986 and is the second firm from Georgia to join United Capital, following the addition of Atlanta, GA-based Sanders Financial Management last September. 

"We are executing our growth strategies via acquisitions and organic measures. We’ve put together an experienced team of recruiters and they have delivered a strong deal pipeline of firms and advisors, we’ve made multi-million dollar investments annually in our brand, marketing and other growth programs," Matt Brinker, senior vice president of partner development and acquisitions, told Family Wealth Report. 

"Meanwhile, we’ve strengthened our growth support infrastructure via our “Dallas Hub” – an operations center that has institutionalized our training and engagement efforts. It is complete with video capabilities, work stations, a phone bank, etc. It allows our teams around the country to capture scale and concentrate on doing what they do best - work with clients."

When asked by this publication what he perceived as the main market challenges at present, he said: "Many smaller firms’ growth has stalled for varying reasons including compliance needs, marketing dollars are stretched, the complex issues that today’s investor faces that didn’t exist just a few years ago; I could go on and on. Simply put, many need our help for their current back-office demands, managing the regulatory environment, lack of lead generation resources and a scalable investment management platform. Far too many have outgrown their current operating structure and that market challenge plays to our advantage."        

The firm is particularly interested in expanding into these areas: Atlanta, GA, Boston, MA, New York, Los Angeles/Orange County, CA, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, St Louis, MO, Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, Tampa, FL, Memphis, TN, Minneapolis/St Paul and Cincinnati, OH.

United Capital Financial Partners is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, and describes itself as a national partnership of private wealth counseling offices. The firm and its affiliates provide advice on approximately $17 billion in client assets across 44 offices in the US.