Arax Investment Partners, a wealth management platform backed by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, has acquired SRS Capital Advisors, a Denver-based $1.7 billion AUM registered investment advisor.
The firm is the latest to join under Arax’s multi-boutique strategy, in which the company acquires independent RIAs operating under their own Form ADVs that are not incorporated into Ashton Thomas Private Wealth, an RIA Arax purchased last year. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“Pure-play, advisory fee-only RIAs are a core pillar of Arax’s multi-boutique strategy and SRS is key piece of that vertical as we look to continue to scale and diversify,” said Mike Zabik, partner, RedBird, in a statement.
SRS was originally founded in 2004 by David Simon, managing director, under the name SimonDavis Asset Management. Simon, along with managing directors Michael Riordan and Patrick South, will continue to lead the firm.
UBS Investment Bank advised Arax on the deal, while Waller Helms and Park Sutton Advisors advised SRS.
In conjunction with the acquisition, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth announced it has also added Fisher Private Wealth, an Aspen, Colo.-based team with $270 million in AUM. The team, led by Jamie Fisher, joins from Wells Fargo Advisors and will use Ashton Thomas Securities, the firm’s hybrid broker/dealer for brokerage business. The team will operate out of the Aspen branch of Timberline Bank. This follows the addition of Confluence Private Wealth, a team in Timberline Bank’s Grand Junction, Colo., headquarters.
“After months of due diligence, I concluded the Ashton Thomas ecosystem proactively supports delivery of exceptional service and focused client solutions,” Fisher said in a statement.
Arax announced its investment in Ashton Thomas Private Wealth last September.
Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Ashton Thomas was founded in 2010 and provides foundations, businesses and wealthy individuals and families with fee-based financial planning, investment portfolio management, retirement plan consulting and financial education.
This follows news in early April that Arax had acquired U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors is a hybrid broker/dealer and RIA with $9 billion in total assets, 5,500 clients and 62 advisors.
Arax now has $19 billion in assets under management and advisement.