The $24 billion advisory firm Lido Advisors has acquired Platte River Wealth Advisors, a Louisville, Colo.-based RIA with over $600 million in assets under management. With this transaction and its recently announced deal with Pegasus Partners, Lido’s total assets will grow to about $27 billion to $28 billion.
“This further strengthens our position in the Colorado marketplace,” said Jason Ozur, CEO of Lido Advisors, in an exclusive interview with WealthManagement.com.
About a year and a half ago, Lido acquired Colorado Financial Management, a 26-person firm with offices in Denver, Boulder and Loveland, Colo., with about $2 billion in assets.
The Platte River deal, structured as a mix of cash and equity, also deepens Lido’s talent bench.
“Our M&A strategy has always been about adding top-tier professionals and strategically expanding our geographic footprint in key regions, and this team embodies that vision,” Ozur said.
The team is led by Tyler Olsen, president and wealth advisor, who holds a CFP and CPA; and Warren Baker, director of investment strategy, who also holds a CFA. Olsen founded the firm in 2019, after breaking away from Wells Fargo Advisors. Both will become partners at Lido, and the rest of their team will also join the RIA.
Lido has nearly 100 different shareholders of the company, most of which are employees. Employees own 45% to 50% of the firm.
This represents Lido’s third deal this year, and Ozur expects the firm to close on one or two more before the end of 2024.
The Los Angeles-based Lido was founded in 1999 and has 15 physical offices nationwide. It serves more than 4,700 clients. Private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners is Lido’s majority owner, having bought its stake in the RIA in 2021. Charlesbank oversaw investments for Harvard University’s endowment before spinning off as a middle-market PE investor.
Since Charlesbank took a majority stake, the firm’s managed assets have grown from about $6 billion to $24 billion as of Sept. 30.
Earlier this year, Lido sold a minority stake to Constellation Wealth Capital, the private equity firm founded by former Emigrant Partners CEO Karl Heckenberg. Constellation was launched in 2023 and has invested in two California-based firms besides Lido.
Days before the Lido announcement, $6.5 billion AUM Bay Area-based Perigon Wealth became Constellation’s second California partner, while Constellation invested in the $2.6 billion firm AlphaCore Wealth Advisory late last year.
In June, Lido made its first deal after selling the stake to Constellation when it acquired Shore Morgan Young, a $615 million RIA based in New Albany, Ohio (which has become known as “The Silicon Heartland” and viewed as a burgeoning tech hub).
