When the deal with SMS completes, Mariner will add $110 million in assets to the $22 billion it aready manages.

In 2018, Mariner CEO Marty Bicknell set a course to buy several leading RIAs a year to grow a national footprint. In the first five months of the year, the firm notched up six purchases, including Patriot Wealth Management in Houston, Texas; Martin Financial Group in New Albany, Indiana; RTB Consulting in Cincinnati, Ohio; Foundations Wealth Management in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Authent Advisors in Corte Madera, California. Just last month, the group entered into an agreement to buy the large southern Florida advisor Singer Xenos Schechter Sosler, adding 16 associates to its Florida office.

Recently, Mariner also opened offices in Charlotte, Des Moines, Bellevue, Louisville and Philadelphia.

“We are incredibly excited to have made a second acquisition in the Houston area,” said Bicknell, referring to the purchase back in January of Houston-based Patriot WM. The Mariner founder made the decision last year to spin the business out of asset management into building a network of wealth advisory firms. He said it could complete up to five more acquisitions by the end of the year.