Omaha, Neb.-based Avior Wealth Management has sold a minority stake to Constellation Wealth Capital, the private equity company created by former Emigrant Partners CEO Karl Heckenberg late last year to invest in the growing channel.
Avior represents Constellation’s seventh deal to date, totaling about $110 billion in assets under management.
“This investment allows us to focus on meaningful inorganic growth initiatives, create new organic growth channels, and deliver operational efficiencies in our business,” CEO Britt Campbell said in a statement. “With CWC as a partner, we are able to maintain control and ownership of our organization, create opportunities for broader equity participation, and continue to invest in the talent that makes Avior so special.”
Avior, which manages about $4.1 billion in client assets across 13 locations in the U.S., provides wealth management, tax and accounting services. It has a network of in-house CPA firms that provide a client pipeline to its advisors. Late last year, the firm hired Kelli Mehrens, most recently head of PayPal’s Risk and Compliance Governance program, as its first COO. Brandon Kanoy, former controller at Sana, joined as CFO.
The RIA was founded in 2008 as Nelson, Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group but rebranded in 2021 to Avior.
Launched last year, Constellation is on a mission to buy minority stakes in high-performing firms and provide them with the cash, resources and expertise needed to take them to the next level of growth.
The firm has acquired stakes in a number of large RIAs since then, including Los Angeles-based Lido Advisors, with $19 billion in AUM, and AlTi Tiedemann Global, a publicly-traded international wealth management and alternative investments corporation with around $68 billion in assets across its subsidiaries.
Park Sutton Advisors served as Avior’s advisor on the deal.
