Hightower Advisors has agreed to add Valley Financial Group, an independent wealth management practice managing about $275 million in client assets, to its Hightower Signature Wealth (HTSW) W-2 channel.
The pending acquisition, which Hightower expects to close later this summer, would be the second external practice the RIA has bought this year to add to HTSW, its national wealth management practice launched last fall.
Chicago-based Hightower, which manages more than $350 billion in assets, said that after the acquisition of Valley Financial of Ambler, Pa., HTSW will oversee about $40 billion in assets under management; more than 160 advisors are on the platform, working through more than 35 locations across the country.
Under CEO Larry Restieri, Hightower is growing the HTSW brand and platform mainly via acquisitions of firms under its umbrella and outside its network. Last week, Hightower added an internal practice to its W-2 channel that has been in the Hightower network for six years. The RIA bought North Carolina-based Stearns Financial Group, adding about $2.5 billion in AUM and 30 new team members to HTSW.
Valley Financial’s employees will also become part of HTSW, and they will continue to work with clients from the practice’s Ambler office, according to a press release.
The firm provides financial planning and investment management services to individuals and families, business owners, corporate employees and first responders throughout Greater Philadelphia, the release said.
The Valley Financial team is also involved in nonprofit and civic organizations across the region, the release said, with Restieri touting the team’s “strong commitment to its community” and its deep client relationships..
Kevin McGarry, managing partner of Valley Financial, said his team wanted to partner with a firm that shared their client-first philosophy while providing resources to help Valley Financial grow.
“HTSW gives us greater scale and expanded capabilities while preserving the personal relationships that have always been at the heart of our firm,” McGarry said in a statement.