The bulk of first quarter RIA M&A occurred in January, contributing to a record quarter, but activity has since slowed down, according to DeVoe & Company.

The firm’s net new assets in the wealth management business were up 183% from a year ago, which executives attribute to net new clients, asset consolidation from existing clients and stock plan retention.

San Francisco–based advisor Kristin Bartlow and her team bring $180 million in client assets to Journey Strategic Wealth, a new spin on the aggregator model, from Northwestern Mutual.

The IBD, now called Grove Point Financial, hopes a new brand, tech platform and an IAR-only business model will help ramp up recruiting.

This marks CI’s 15th deal since entering the U.S. RIA market in January 2020, bringing its total U.S. assets to about $50 billion.

Cetera Advisors gets into the M&A game, buying its first RIA from another Genstar Capital–backed firm, Ascensus.

CEO Rudy Adolf said the firm has $1 billion in firepower as it looks to expand its global footprint through Connectus, its new in-house shared services model.

“If we do that well for LPL advisors, then we could easily take that to an advisor that doesn’t necessarily sit on our platform today,” CEO Dan Arnold said.

The acquisition brings Captrust a larger presence in Northern California and continues its strategy of combining retirement plan services with wealth planning.