Balentine, an Atlanta-based wealth management firm with about $8 billion in client assets, has sold a 20% stake to FJ Management, a Utah-based private holding company.
As a result of the deal, Balentine will continue to operate independently with its current leadership team intact. Balentine will use the capital for succession planning and growth. An FJM executive will take a seat on the firm's board.
“We have found in FJ Management and its CEO, Crystal Maggelet, a long-term partner who will allow us to operate independently while giving us the capital to continue to scale our business, and which will distinguish us in the wealth management industry,” said Adrian Cronje, CEO and a founder of Balentine, in a statement. “Balentine and FJM are aligned in terms of vision and values, and about the path and pace of future growth for our firm as we continue to serve entrepreneurs, business owners and ultra-high net worth families who seek to secure their wealth and legacy across generations.”
FJM CEO Crystal Maggelet is heir to the Flying J and Pilot travel centers family fortune. FJ Management was previously known as Flying J Inc. The company got its start investing in convenience stores and gas stations, such as the Maverik brand. It was founded in 1968 by O. Jay Call, who grew up in the gas station business working for both his father and his uncle.
Under Maggelet’s leadership, Flying J merged with Pilot Travel Centers to become Pilot Flying J, which was fully acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in January 2024.
FJM now owns a number of companies in the energy sector, as well as companies in banking, med spas and real estate.
“We think of ourselves as flexible capital providers, and we make both strategic and financial investments consistent with our mission of, ‘Building Value to Last,’” Maggelet said in a statement.
Balentine was created in 2009 as a successor firm of Balentine & Company, which was founded in 1987 by Chairman Robert Balentine and his father. The firm serves about 300 clients nationwide, out of its offices in Atlanta and Raleigh, N.C.
