CI Financial buys Budros to cinch $74 billion in U.S. assets--if pending deals close--but rival Focus Financial just surpassed $300 billion globally, its CEO says
The Toronto startup rollup has been dominant for about two years in RIA M&A, but Rudy Adolf says his value proposition is more multi-faceted.
4 min read- CI Financial's acquisition of Budros, Ruhlin & Roe pushes its U.S. assets to $74 billion.
- Focus Financial CEO touts $300 billion in global client assets, dwarfing CI's U.S. total.
- Focus Financial emphasizes its long-term approach and RIA partner equity retention.
- CI Financial focuses on larger acquisitions, paying cash for 100% ownership of RIAs.
CI Financial Corp. today (Aug. 10) announced it will acquire Budros, Ruhlin & Roe to build its U.S. rollup total to $74 billion when the deal and others pending close in the coming months.
The Toronto-based investment firm released that tally today a few days after Focus Financial CEO Rudy Adolf, tossed out his own staggering number -- $300 billion in "client assets in aggregate"-- during his latest earnings call with analysts.
Top rollup Focus has more than 70 firms, of which most are RIAs in the United States. CI Financial has 16 RIA firms.
Yet, CI Private Wealth has been spinning heads by adding assets in larger chunks since 2019. See: CI Financial tops its 2020 MVP year with a grand slam $23 billion AUM January deal but its CEO hints that 2021 is just getting going
CI extends its unprecedented string of rapid fire deals with Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, a financial planning firm in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1979, it manages $3.4 billion. See: CI Financial continues to feast on Blind Squirrels' membership like a cache of stored nuts
The deals Focus Financial boasted of on its call were smaller, including Rollins Financial, a fiduciary wealth manager based in Atlanta, with an estimated $1 billion in client assets and ARS Wealth Advisors, an integrated wealth management firm based in St. Petersburg, Florida, with about $700 million in client assets.
CI Financial tops its 2020 MVP year with a grand slam $23 billion AUM January deal but its CEO hints that 2021 is just getting going
Focus also acquired Badgley Phelps, an RIA based in Seattle, with approximately $4.3 billion in client assets.
Complete alignment
CI Financial is the largest investment management firm by assets under management in Canada.
CI partner principals positively beam with pride when they speak about the harmonious relationship with the relative newcomer to the U.S. market, headed by CEO Kurt MacAlpine.
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“While this is an acquisition, we also see it as an exciting merger with like-minded friends in the industry who share our fiduciary approach and high standards,” said Dan Roe, Co-CEO of Budros, Ruhlin & Roe.
“We chose CI because it is in complete alignment with our firm’s constitution, providing our clients with the very best wealth management services, helping employees grow in their jobs and continuously striving to improve what we do and how we do it,” added co-CEO John Schuman.
“It’s exciting to help define the future of an industry-leading wealth management platform in the U.S.”
CI Financial continues to feast on Blind Squirrels' membership like a cache of stored nuts
Yet Adolf points to his company's far longer history in the marketplace as advantage over competitors.
Skin in the game
"We have often said that there are about 1,000 firms in the U.S. alone that have the potential to partner firms and another 5,000 that could become mergers for our partners," he explains.
"It bears repeating that we know virtually all them and have built those relationships over a long period of time."
CI Financial has succeeded by paying cash to buy all shares of a company [though it declined to disclose terms this time]. In contrast, Focus Financial buys about half of the cash flow.
Yet Adolf underscores the edge Focus holds by keeping RIA skin in the game.
"Since our first acquisition, we have always used the structure that has the interest of the entrepreneur at its core.
"That consistency creates a normal stability within the partnership and is complemented by a well-honed due diligence process. We have completed more than 225 transactions and the learnings from those have all contributed to the process we follow today," he says.
Adolf believes he offers more benefits of scale.
"Our combined expertise, purchasing power and access is second to none and it would be very difficult to replicate what we offer."
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