Focus Financial Partners, the New York-based RIA aggregator, is continuing to consolidate by shifting Connectus Wealth Advisers’ U.S.-based business lines to The Colony Group and Kovitz Investment Group Partners
The five business lines joining Colony from Connectus include Atlas Private Wealth Management, Connectus Private, Hunt Valley Wealth, Mid-Continent Capital and NEIRG Wealth Management. The move will add “senior-level” talent to Colony and strengthen its footprint in several markets, including Baltimore, Chicago and South Florida.
Colony President Zinovy Iosovich said the firm was excited to welcome the “experienced and talented” Connectus teams.
Additionally, Focus revealed it was moving Connectus’ Greenwich, Conn.-based NorthCoast Asset Management business line to Kovitz, another massive Focus firm. Connectus acquired the $3 billion NorthAsset in September 2021, making it the RIA’s tenth firm at the time.
NorthCoast Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Patrick Jamin said the firm was excited to join Kovitz, as both firms specialize in portfolio construction and investment research.
Mitch Kovitz is the founder and co-chief investment officer of Kovitz, a Chicago-based $7.68 billion AUM RIA. Focus previously bought out the Colony and Kovitz management teams to convert them into “hub” firms that acquire other Focus partner RIAs. Kovitz became a Focus vice chairman in January and shared Jamin’s enthusiasm about the deal.
“They have a distinct excellence in offering investment solutions designed for clients with concentrated stock positions, which is an increasingly necessary tool for our clients who are corporate executives,” Kovitz said.
Connectus managed about $8.5 billion in client assets, according to its March 2024 Form ADV.
In late April, Focus named Michael Nathanson, the firm’s current president and Colony Group CEO, as its new CEO. He succeeded interim head Dan Glaser, chairman of Focus’s board of directors and operating partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Focus’s majority private equity investment partner.
When CD&R bought Focus last year, the firm’s three founders exited, including former COO Rajini Kodialam, former M&A head Lenny Chang and CEO Rudy Adolf, who left in October. Under the new owners, Focus planned to merge around 90 independently owned subsidiary practices into several of its largest firms (including Colony and Kovitz).
In May, Focus merged partner firm Buckingham Strategic Wealth with The Colony Group to create a $50.2 billion RIA. Buckingham Chairman and CEO Adam Birenbaum became the CEO of the combined company, while Nathanson moved from his Colony Group leadership role to chief executive of Focus.
Earlier in the year, Focus merged Colony and GW & Wade, a Wellesley, Mass.-based RIA with $10.4 billion in client assets.