Our US correspondent examines a rebranding exercise that Focus has carried out after its move a year ago to start changing its affiliated network of advisory firms.

Focus Partners has taken another step toward its goal of becoming one of a handful of leading national RIA firms.

Just over a year after beginning to transform its loosely affiliated network of 90 advisory firms into a more integrated model, the RIA has rebranded its five advisory hubs as Focus Partners.

The largest hub, made up of Colony Group and Buckingham Strategic Wealth, and the firms that joined them, will operate under the name Focus Partners Wealth.

The Kovitz Investment Group hub will be known as Kovitz, a Focus Partners firm. The remaining hubs have been renamed SCS Financial, Focus Partners Family Office and OCIO; Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, Focus Partners Business Management and Cardinal Point, Focus Partners Canada. Altogether, 14 partner firms have joined the five hubs.

In a nod to Focus’ ambitions, CEO Michael Nathanson said the rebrand, which includes a redesigned logo and website, was meant to evoke the experience of clients and advisors feeling empowered “with the capabilities and resources typically offered by the largest institutions in the world.”

“This is one of the best and smartest rebrands that I have seen in recent memory,” said April Rudin, CEO of marketing consultancy The Rudin Group. “It builds on their brand image and legacy in look and feel, but with a much more modern vibe.”

Closer to national goal?
Will the rebrand help Focus achieve its goal of becoming a leading national brand?

“From an organic growth perspective, how effectively they execute on their marketing strategy to help drive new clients to their firms will be critical to being successful,” said Suzanne Siracuse, wealth management industry consultant. “Michael Nathanson is a very well respected thought leader, so I expect great things for Focus.”

The rebrand “feels like an interim stage in a longer rebranding journey where they’re trying to retain the brand equity that’s been built up in names such as Colony and Buckingham, while at the same time tying them more directly and tightly to the overarching Focus Partners brand,” according to Andrew Besheer, managing principal of Besheer & Associates.

The Focus Partners brand name is likely to become even more primary in the next 12 to 18 months as the legacy brand names become less visible or disappear completely, which “should certainly be helpful to furthering their ambitions,” Besheer said.

Consolidation challenge ahead
Beyond branding and marketing, however, Focus, which was taken private by majority shareholder PE firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 2023, faces a much bigger challenge: how to cajole the more than 70 partner firms that haven’t yet joined a hub to become what Nathanson calls “the coalition of the willing.”

Publicly, Focus is taking an accommodating approach, being careful not to ruffle any feathers. But the firm’s intent is clear. As one Focus partner CEO put it: “I mean, we know they want to own every one of us.”

In a session at the Schwab IMPACT conference in November CD&R operating partner Dan Glaser made clear that the private equity firm’s priority is more consolidation and “company building.”

Ramped up M&A this year is also part of the growth plan, Glaser said. In the next decade, industry consolidation will result in four or five “very large” RIAs, and Focus, he declared, “will be one of those.”