Minneapolis-based Wealth Enhancement Group, the acquisitive registered investment advisor with over $85.4 billion in client assets, has purchased Peak Financial Services, a $123 million hybrid RIA. Northborough, Mass.-based Peak is WEG’s fourth location in the state.
Peak was founded in 1995 by President Kevin O’Brien. It specializes in working with clients who are at or near retirement and executives of high-tech and biotechnology companies.
“After entertaining numerous offers from prominent, national RIA firms, we chose Wealth Enhancement Group as our approaches to client service, investment disciplines and philosophies, and comprehensive wealth management are well aligned,” O’Brien said in a statement.
O’Brien said he expects to expand the services offered to his clients by tapping WEG’s dedicated investment management, trust, estate planning and tax professionals.
The Peak deal follows WEG’s acquisition last week of Starfox Financial Services, an RIA with more than $254 million in assets in The Woodlands, Texas.
The deals come just a couple weeks after a man who claims to have co-founded WEG filed a lawsuit against the acquisitive RIA, alleging it reneged on paying him “finder’s fees” for firms the company later acquired.
Gerald “Jerry” Bernard filed the suit in Minnesota’s Hennepin County, seeking more than $50,000. According to the suit, Bernard has over 40 years in the wealth management industry and co-founded WEG with his wife, Madeline, in 1996.
A WEG spokesperson said the claims have no merit and that the firm will defend against them.
Among the most active RIA buyers of the last few years, WEG completed 18 deals last year, 14 in 2022 and 16 in 2021.
Founded in 1997, WEG has grown from $4 billion in AUM to over $85 billion since it sold a majority stake to Lightyear Capital in 2015. TA Associates bought out Lightyear Capital’s investment in 2019 when the firm was overseeing around $12 billion. Onex Partners took ownership in 2021, just as the firm approached $40 billion in AUM.
