Hightower Takes Another Stake In Wealth Manager

Editorial Staff

15 October 2021

Chicago-based has made a strategic investment in Bluerock Wealth Management, a $700 million advisory business in Alpharetta, Georgia.

The move adds to a number of stakes in wealth managers that Hightower has made in recent months, continuing a busy M&A trend in the sector.

Bluerock, founded in 2019, provides individuals and families with financial planning, strategic investing and tax consulting.

The business’s creators, Raj Chokshi and Rachael Neil, each have more than 20 years of wealth management experience. Bluerock, which has 11 employees, including five advisors, focuses mainly on mid-career technology and medical professionals and their families.

“Bluerock is a high-performance business with mid to high double-digit organic growth and an exciting future. Raj and Rachael have built an impressive roster of clients in the accumulation phase of their careers, in a region that is experiencing significant wealth creation,” Bob Oros, Hightower chairman and CEO, said.

The Bluerock transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. As of June 30, Hightower's assets under administration were around $125.2 billion, and its assets under management were $101 billion.

Earlier in October, Hightower facilitated a sub-acquisition for Fairport Wealth, which added FMA Advisory of Harrisburg, Pa. to Fairport's business of wealth management professionals. Hightower also took a stake in Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management, a $1 billion wealth management firm based in Punta Gorda, Florida.

In September Hightower took a stake in Arlington, Virginia-based Alexandria Capital, a $1.5 billion advisory business with offices in New York City, Boston, Portland, Oregon, and Juneau, Alaska. In June the firm won conditional regulatory approval to transform its Texas-based trust company into a nationally chartered trust company. In January this year Hightower made a strategic stake in New York-based Siller & Cohen Family Wealth Advisors, an $830 million wealth management firm in Rye Brook, New York. In late July it acquired Farr, Miller & Washington, a $2 billion (assets under management) wealth management firm based in Washington, DC with offices in Naples, Florida, and Devon, Pennsylvania.