RIA strikes: Merit, Hightower and Trilogy announce billion-dollar additions
Merit’s tenth Commonwealth addition deepens its Western New York attain, whereas one other Hightower associate joins its Signature Wealth platform in Michigan.
Amid a busy week of dealmaking main into the Columbus Day weekend, Merit Financial Advisors and Hightower Signature Wealth unveiled billion-dollar acquisitions extending their respective nationwide footprints, whereas unbiased RIA Trilogy Capital welcomed a specialised billion-dollar follow to mark its largest deal of the yr.
Merit’s twelfth deal of 2026 brings a Buffalo-area retirement follow
Merit, the Atlanta-based acquirer that operates each unbiased broker-dealer and RIA companies, acquired Moldenhauer & Associates of Orchard Park, N.Y.
The follow manages about $1.1 billion for almost 1,900 households. Brett Moldenhauer and the agency’s 12 staff will keep of their Orchard Park workplace, which provides Merit its first base within the better Buffalo market.
Richard Moldenhauer, Brett’s father, based the corporate affairs. He started in life insurance coverage and later turned the follow right into a monetary planning and wealth administration agency. Brett Moldenhauer joined greater than 20 years in the past. His multigenerational crew works largely with shoppers who’re nearing retirement or already retired.
Growing primarily via referrals, the follow has expanded from underneath $150 million when it initially affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network in 2016 to greater than $1 billion at present, and it expects to herald about $100 million of latest property this yr.
From a next-gen continuity standpoint, the corporate affairs is well-placed: three advisors of their mid-to-late 30s have every been with the agency for greater than a decade, and a fourth has been there for greater than 4 years.
“As a corporate affairs grows, succession and continuity develop into about way more than the person proprietor,” Moldenhauer stated.
This is Merit’s 63rd acquisition total and its twelfth this yr, placing its previously stated target of 15 deals for 2026 inside hanging distance. It can be the tenth former Commonwealth crew to hitch Merit.
As of Sept. 12, Merit reported $32.92 billion in property throughout greater than 70 places of work, together with $25.6 billion in advisory property, $2.5 billion in brokerage, $3.02 billion in employer plans and $1.8 billion in ESOP property.
“Succession doesn’t must imply exit,” stated David Wahlen, Merit’s govt vp of strategic companions, pointing to the Moldenhauer crew’s “skilled next-generation crew, robust natural development and important alternative.”
Hightower Signature Wealth absorbs a longtime Michigan associate
Mega-RIA Hightower has moved Synergy Capital Solutions, a follow primarily based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., into its centralized Hightower Signature Wealth platform.
Synergy, which had about $1 billion in property underneath administration as of June 30, has been a Hightower associate since 2017. The follow servces a various base of shoppers from throughout the nation with a bench of 15 professionals, together with seven advisors.
Mark Burns leads the agency as co-founder, chief govt and chief funding officer. Jordann M. Andrusiak serves as advisor and chief working officer, whereas Eric M. Nahat is an advisor and co-CIO.
“Joining HTSW provides us a stronger basis to hold on the legacy we have now created over the previous 42 years,” Burns stated.
Synergy says it plans to hold workplace house within the Bloomfield Hills, Naples, Fla., and Lebanon, Pa., areas.
Hightower stated its Signature Wealth platform has grown to about $40 billion in AUM as of June 30, with over 160 advisors throughout greater than 35 areas. The platform has been absorbing practices at a wholesome tempo since launching a year ago, most not too long ago agreeing to acquire a boutique firm based in Massachusetts late last month.
Trilogy targets aviation professionals in largest deal of the yr
Trilogy Capital of Irvine, Calif., acquired Mountain Capital Investment Advisors of Westminster, Colo. Mountain Capital has spent 15 years as a standalone SEC-registered funding adviser and has greater than $1 billion in complete consumer property.
The deal, which Trilogy described as its largest of 2026, represents its eleventh workplace and second location in Colorado. The agency additionally has operations in California, Arizona and Massachusetts.
Brandt Burns, a Marine Corps veteran and former airline pilot, based Mountain Capital in 2011. The agency serves people, households and small companies, and it makes a speciality of aviation professionals, and its workers consists of present or former pilots and airline leaders
Mountain Capital additionally presents tax preparation and consulting companies, together with interview preparation for pilots and aviation professionals. That service was developed by co-founder Michelle Burns after 14 years as a senior supervisor
Trilogy stated Mountain Capital’s companies could be mixed with Trilogy Tax & Consulting, an affiliated firm. Mountain Capital can be retaining its model, and its management, advisors and workers will stay in place.
Trilogy was based in 1999 and is led by co-founder and Chief Executive Jeff Motske. In 2024, Toronto-based Peloton Capital Management took a minority stake in Trilogy, which was then working as Trilogy Financial Service.
“As the wealth administration business grows extra complicated, remaining unbiased might now not be the most suitable choice for reaching strategic development plans and supporting consumer wants,” stated Jason Inglis, Trilogy’s chief growth officer.
