Bluespring Wealth Partners, the registered investment advisor acquisition arm of Kestra Financial, disclosed its second deal in less than a week on Tuesday, announcing that it has acquired a stake in Believeland, one of the independently owned financial planning and wealth management entities operating under oXYGen Financial Inc.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Alpharetta, Ga.-based RIA has over $400 million in assets under management, said Bluespring President Stuart Silverman.
Last week, Bluespring announced that it had acquired Hickory Asset Management, a Concord, Ohio-based RIA with nearly $153 million in client assets, according to its latest Form ADV.
Silverman said Believeland is unique in that it primarily serves Generation X and Generation Y clients through a high-tech platform that oXYGen founder Ted Jenkin, a recognized industry innovator and frequent television commentator, created.
"Ted and [business partner] Brandon Hayes have proven they can use tech and marketing and create an identity brand around Gen X and Gen Y,” said Silverman, adding that Jenkin will make his ideas on next gen lead generation, marketing and social media available to other RIAs on Bluespring’s roster. “They have even used it to generate up-referrals to the older generation.”
He added that Bluespring wants to “do a lot of subacquisitions” for Believeland.
Bluespring, which was launched in July, acquires companies with the plan to turn them into regional hubs. It also treats principals at the firms as entrepreneurs, with creative compensation programs like equity incentives. The company is flexible when it makes acquisitions, the only rules being that it must take at least a 51% stake and it looks only at companies with at least $1 million in EBITDA.
Kestra has $92 billion in AUM and supports over 2,000 independent investment advisors. The independent broker/dealer was recapitalized in February when private equity firm Warburg Pincus became the majority stakeholder in the firm. That deal was rumored to be in the $700 million to $800 million range.