Corient is set to leapfrog its AUM 135% to $479 billion, largely through European deals; now it's circling back to the U.S. where it all started to buy a giant RIA and lay claim to be the No. 1, global (non-bank, fee-only) wealth manager

Kurt MacAlpine is proving there are second acts, but you need to conquer Geneva, and have a brush with Bain Capital along the way, before taking down Tulsa.

As CEO of CI Financial he ran the RIA M&A table from 2020 to 2022 in an unprecedented blitz before returning to Earth after what looked a little like beginner's luck. See: A hotshot Canadian CEO tears through the RIA market like the polar vortex, sweeping up $16 billion in AUM and ringing the bell on an NYSE listing that could fuel even more deals

The RIA roll-up went through an IPO, a take-private transaction (by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala) and a spin-off from its parent. 

It had to make a harrowing “PIK” deal with Bain and then get recapitalized before getting back on offense in earnest. See: With Bain deal ticking, CI Financial has to 'do something' with sprawling $147-billion U.S. RIA business under dozens of brand names' so it kills all the brands, except Corient

But now under a new brand, Corient, MacAlpine, still CEO, and still only 44, has all but completed his second act, even faster than his first five years ago, and now he's on an even bigger stage.

Local scale

“Having a business in the U.S. and having a business in Canada is, call it, great from a cross-border slash snowbird opportunity. But you're not really dealing with truly global families there,” MacAlpine says in an interview.

“By [adding] multi-jurisdictional capabilities from Stonehage and Stanhope Capital, right, we have businesses in the Channel Islands, Switzerland, Israel and Monaco and Luxembourg. 

"So now there's all these different booking centers around the world, [so] our Canadian clients can not only reap the benefits of local ... service in Canada, but also can tap into those multi-jurisdictional capabilities.”

MacAlpine says that the playbook in developing scale is different this time, and quick giant acquisitions fast-forwarded the process in Europe.

“The first thing was we needed real local scale in the markets that we were entering. So that was kind of my first time.

"Like, the goal wasn't to buy a $2 billion or $3 billion firm in London; a $2 billion or $3 billion firm in Paris, a $2 billion or $3 billion firm … We wanted real local scale.”

Scale is good but it's still unclear to those outside whether Corient has truly reaped the benefits of that scale, counters Dan Seivert, founder and CEO of RIA investment bank and M&A experts, ECHELON Partners, in an email.

“They've absolutely built scale,” he says. “What I'd want to see more evidence of is integration, a clear thesis for why international fits with the U.S. platform, and demonstrable value-add from the home office to the acquired firms,” he says.

“The tailwinds have been enormous: valuation arbitrage on deals, markets up significantly through their buying spree, and an internal financial waterfall – full of engineering few outside the firm fully understand – that's designed to direct more economics to the house and less to the advisor. Scale is not the same as a working model," he concludes.

Climb to dominance

The 2020-founded, start-up's claim to be the “largest-fee-only” wealth manager globally certainly lends itself to a narrative that transcends RIA roll-ups, adds Will Trout, director, securities & investments at Boston consultancy, Datos Insights, in an email.

“The pattern suggests a long-term architectural play. Europe teaches you how to serve genuinely global ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families,” he explains.

“Canada is where you test whether that playbook scales and monetizes. Then, the U.S. opens up – a market where most incumbents still organize around regional advisor books, not global family architecture,” Trout continues.

“This looks less like a consolidation spree and more like a deliberate, choreographed climb toward continental UHNW dominance. That's a different strategy than it first appears.”

Indeed, the European side spree was a precursor to buying $10 billion of Canadian wealth assets, even though the company's origins are very Canadian and American, with headquarters in Miami and Toronto, according to MacAlpine.

Corient could hardly have made friendlier deals with CI Financial. It brought on Northwood Family Office and Coriel Capital, and select CI Private Wealth advisors who will become Corient Partners.

Yet Seivert says it's still uncertain to him whether Corient's acquired expertise serving the globally mobile super-rich will generate profits nearly like an RIA in the United States with more pedestrian capabilities.

“Serving globally mobile UHNW families is a real need,” he says. "But the strategic question is whether the economics of serving those households — given the complexity involved – can come anywhere close to the returns of a U.S.-only business. 

“I'm skeptical that they do, which really begs the question ‘why’ and what is the quality of the capital allocation process?” Seivert asks.

“Many international firms run the Northern Trust model — a single all-in fee of 40 to 55 bps covering both asset management – typically around 50 basis points without alts – and wealth management – typically around 70 basis points," he adds.

"That usually means doing all the work for half to a third of the revenue, with a strong pull toward proprietary product to make up the difference. So the $450 billion is real, but the revenue and margin profile behind it is not the same animal as a pure U.S. RIA book.”

Limited synergies

Alois Pirker, principal of Pirker Partners in Boston and Austria, is taken aback by the scope of the Corient scale grab, but unconvinced that it has unlocked the multi-jurisdictional challenge.

"As there are different types of aggregators, I would definitely count Corient as part of the aggregator set. [It's] incredible that they are at $450 billion now.

“However, I am not quite convinced that the European effort will work out. I have seen it tried before (Focus Financial and Fisher Investments) and have seen a great deal of struggles with overseas businesses as synergies with these businesses are limited,” he adds. 

“Aggregators would have to start local roll-up efforts within those jurisdictions, but rarely their dedication goes that far.”

Heavy lift

Pirker's caution is warranted, according to Trout.

"Three acquisitions in 12 months across three regions with distinct regulatory frameworks is a heavy lift. If Corient lands it, they're genuinely formidable at [the client segment of] $25 million-plus. If integration stumbles, earnouts get renegotiated quietly.”

“The sequencing is tactically interesting: Stonehage and Stanhope in '25, then Bedrock in early '26,” he says. “Each targets a specific market position — offshore expertise, UK institutional roots, Continental wealth and multi-family office services."

There is one big underlying reason that Corient won't experience the same altitude sickness of other large RIA roll-ups that grew too big or stretched their supply lines too far – its partnership model, MacAlpine says.

The partnership model was first mentioned by Goddard in explaining his decision to bring his team of 47 to Corient.

“Corient’s private partnership model was the key factor in our decision to join the firm, as it reflects the values that drive Capital Advisors – integrity, teamwork, and dedication to our clients,” he said in the release.

Global spree

McAlpine's semi-stealthy M&A blitz No. 2 – focused on Europe and Canada – will also soon add $255 billion in assets under management to Corient's existing $224 billion in AUM, giving it a claim to be the No. 1 global non-bank, fee-only wealth management company. 

And – as if MacAlpine were reading our thoughts that European assets are not the same as U.S. RIA assets, he is announcing today that it is buying a $7.5-billion RIA in Tulsa, Okla. 

The firm, Capital Advisors, is employee-owned and founded in 1978. CEO Keith Goddard and President Andy Brown run the shop. 

The $255 billion soon-to-close deals includes Stonehage, Stanhope, Bedrock, Vivaldi, Payson and the Canadian businesses joining Corient. See: Corient just locked down Payson, its first big RIA deal of 2024 in Maine, perhaps critical to its CI Financial parent nailing down a suitcase of cash from Abu Dhabi

The global spree from Geneva to London to Toronto all happened so quickly – just since September – that none of the deals have closed. Mubadala Capital in Abu Dhabi only closed on its purchase of Corient in August.

Most pending transactions will close within the next six weeks. See: Kurt MacAlpine tells RIABiz in an exclusive interview how he managed to buy Europe's two biggest wealth managers, simultaneously, and integrate pre-closing without a penny of debt

“Upon close and subject to regulatory approval of these and other transactions, Corient will become the world’s largest non-bank, fee-only wealth manager and the world’s largest multi-family office focused on ultra-high-net-worth clients globally,” the company says in a release.