The acquirer says it offers a "sorely needed" alternative to traditional investment firms in that it enables its partners to thrive in the long term.

Aspen Standard Wealth has acquired Summitry, an RIA with $2.8 billion in assets under management, a firm based in the San Francisco Bay area and founded in 2003.

At a time when private equity money remains conspicuous in wealth sector M&A, Aspen says it takes a different approach. 

“Unlike other acquirers, Aspen’s plan is to build for the long term, not to resell,” it said in a statement yesterday. “This philosophy keeps everyone aligned and invested in further maturing and growing the business, with less friction than most conventional transactions.”

“We are the sorely needed alternative to traditional investment firms in that we enable our partners to thrive long term,” Aly Kassim-Lakha, CEO of Aspen, said. 

The CEO of Summitry is Colin Higgins.

As explained by this news service’s US correspondent earlier this year, private equity’s hold on the financial advisory business remains tight. All – as in 100 per cent – of the transactions reported in Fidelity’s M&A report for January 2024 were private equity backed. Assets involving direct private equity investments in wealth management firms soared to more than $2 trillion in 2023, from a total of $400 billion in 2022, according to the 2023 ECHELON RIA M&A Deal Report. 

In the major M&A deal (Hall Capital) conducted by Pathstone, the multi-family office, a few days ago, it is notable that the firm’s backers include private equity houses such as Kelso & Co and Lovell Minnick Partners.