Captrust Financial Advisors, the Raleigh, N.C.-headquartered registered investment advisor that recently surpassed $1 trillion in total client assets, has acquired Carolinas Investment Consulting, an investment consulting and financial planning firm with over $1.4 billion in assets.
CIC was founded in 2001 by George Edmiston in Charlotte, N.C. The firm has since grown into a 20-person team serving clients in over 30 states. That includes families, endowments, retirement plans and corporations. The firm also runs its own broker/dealer, which it’ll shutter. Captrust expects to move those accounts to its broker/dealer with regulatory approval.
The firm will take on the Captrust brand and represent the RIA’s second Charlotte location.
“George and I have been friends and competitors for over 20 years,” said Fielding Miller, co-founder and CEO of Captrust, in a statement. “CIC has had a sterling reputation in the Carolinas which will immediately improve our market opportunities and elevate our brand.”
With the addition, Captrust now has 96 total offices across the country.
This follows news in January that Captrust acquired Wealth Covenant Group, a Houston-based firm with three employees and $300 million in client assets.
Captrust is facing a legal battle; this week, a Pennsylvania investor filed suit against the RIA for the alleged failings of a firm it acquired. She claims the RIA should have realized earlier that she’d been swindled out of more than $360,000 of retirement savings.
Last summer, Captrust announced it had surpassed $1 trillion in total assets under management and advisement, a big milestone for the independent RIA channel.
Captrust began an aggressive acquisition strategy in 2006 and has since completed about 75 deals. Three years ago, the firm announced it sold a 25% stake to private equity firm GTCR—based on a valuation of $1.25 billion. Last fall, Captrust sold a minority stake to Carlyle.