Atlanta-based Homrich Berg is acquiring WMS Partners, a $6.4 billion multi-family office and RIA in Maryland. This will boost the firm’s total assets under management above $24 billion.
The Tyson, Md.-based WMS Partners will become part of the Homrich Berg Family Office. WMS was founded in 1993 by Tim Chase, David Citron and Martin Eby and currently staffs over 80 employees and partners offering a range of wealth management and family office services for clients in the high-net-worth to ultra-high-net-worth range.
According to Homrich Berg President and CEO Thomas Carroll, the two firms share a “unique approach to advance planning and private market investing,” and the addition of WMS Partners will help Homrich Berg on its goal to become “the premier independent fee-only RIA in the Southeast-plus region.”
WMS Partners already enjoyed a multi-year relationship with Homrich Berg, according to WMS CEO Todd Wickwire, and the acquisition will mean WMS’s 21 shareholders will become owners in Homrich Berg, bringing that firm’s total count to over 70 shareholders. As a result of the deal, Homrich Berg’s footprint will expand to 10 offices in five states with over 300 employees.
In September, Homrich Berg executives opted to sell a minority stake in the firm to TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity platform of the San Francisco-based private equity firm TPG. According to Reuters, the deal valued the RIA at around $1 billion.
The firm has also been backed by New Mountain Strategic Equity, an affiliate of the private equity firm New Mountain Capital, which made its minority investment in 2021. New Mountain kept its stake in the wake of the TPG deal. In 2022, Homrich Berg completed a debt capital revolver by raising $75 million in a multi-bank syndication led by First Citizens Bank, allowing the firm’s owners to retain their majority control.
Carroll took over the role of Homrich Berg CEO at the start of this year. He succeeded Andy Berg, who’d led the firm since its founding. The move was part of a planned transition that began when Carroll was hired in 2020, and Berg remained as chairman of the firm’s board.
In April, Homrich hired Andrew Page to head the firm’s M&A activity. Page previously worked on direct investments and sub-acquisitions at Focus Financial for five years before moving to Ancora Holdings, a Focus partner firm, in 2022, where he oversaw the firm’s M&A. The WMS deal is the first acquisition under Page’s tenure.
Homrich Berg also hired Michael Woocher, who had spent nine years at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, as the newly created chief advisory officer. In September, the firm hired Joanna Irwin as chief marketing officer. She replaced Bill Bolen, who returned to focusing on client service. Last month, the firm added a $4 billion Tampa, Fla. team joining from Truist, becoming Homrich Berg’s second office in the Sunshine State.
Berg co-founded the firm in 1989 with David Homrich, with the help of a $100,000 loan from Homrich’s father. The duo managed less than $10 million for the firm’s first decade.
However, by the time Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank lured Homrich to help him build a family office in 2001, the firm managed about $500 million in client assets. Now, the firm acts as a regional integrator, working with more than 3,600 families nationwide.
The WMS deal is expected to close early in 2025’s first quarter.
