RIA aggregator Focus Financial Partners named the Toronto-based Cardinal Point Capital Management as its fifth “hub” in its larger strategy to consolidate its wide array of existing firms under several central entities.
Cardinal Point was founded in 2009 and joined Focus in 2021. As of last September, it managed approximately C$3.1 billion (approximately U.S. $2.16 billion). The firm specializes in “cross-border” wealth management for clients in the U.S. and Canada, including estate, tax and financial planning.
According to Cardinal Point CEO and co-founder Jeff Sheldon, the wealth management world has changed “rapidly” since the firm joined Focus.
“Becoming a Focus hub underscores our responsibility to our colleagues and clients to cultivate the best resources in the industry,” Sheldon said in a statement. “We are excited to be an integral part of what Focus is building and by their continued commitment to the Canadian market.”
Focus CEO Michael Nathanson said Cardinal Point had a “differentiated value proposition” as one of Canada’s premier cross-border teams and would lead Focus’ consolidation and expansion moves.
“Cardinal Point’s next chapter as a hub will enable the firm to extend the reach of its services while also expanding its capabilities for clients across the entirety of Focus, especially given its expertise in cross-border wealth management,” Nathanson said in a statement.
WealthManagement.com reported in November 2023 that Focus’ (at the time) new leadership hatched an ambitious plan to consolidate about 90 independently operated subsidiaries into a handful of large firms that would operate as “hubs.”
Earlier that year, Focus went private in a sale to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. All three Focus founders, including former COO Rajini Kodialam, former M&A Head Lenny Chang, and CEO Rudy Adolf, exited around that time.
Cardinal Point is joining four other Focus “hubs,” including The Colony Group, Kovitz Investment Group, SCS Financial and the Los Angeles-based Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman. Last month, Focus revealed that the latter firm was its fourth hub (and first business management hub).
Focus is also staffing its c-suite with heads of these hub firms. Kovitz Founder Mitch Kovitz became a vice chairman last January, and current Focus CEO Michael Nathanson was The Colony Group’s CEO before taking on the new role.
Several weeks ago, Focus consolidated two partner firms, merging the Dallas-based Brownlie & Braden Advisors into Kansas City-based Prarie Capital Management Group (the combined firms totaled $7 billion in managed assets after the transaction, according to Focus).
Focus has continued consolidating its partner firms, including merging The Colony Group with GW & Wade, a Massachusetts-based RIA with $10.4 billion in managed assets. Last year, Focus combined The Colony Group with partner firm Buckingham Strategic Wealth to create a $50.2 billion RIA.
In June, Focus shifted Connectus Wealth Advisers’ U.S.-based business lines into The Colony Group and Kovitz Investment Group Partners. Subsequently, Kovitz bought the $2.6 billion partner firm Relative Value Partners Group, bringing Kovitz to more than $24 billion in assets.
In October, Kovitz acquired Fort Pitt Capital Group, a $5.9 billion Pittsburgh-based Focus partner firm. The deal boosted Kovitz’s assets to nearly $30 billion.
