RIA aggregator Focus Financial is continuing to consolidate partner firms; this time, the Dallas, Texas-based Brownlie & Braden Advisors is joining Focus partner firm Prairie Capital Management Group, located in Kansas City, Mo.
As of the transaction, Prairie Capital has $7 billion in managed assets. Brownlie & Braden’s former president, James Braden, will become a managing director at Prairie and called the deal an “exciting next step” in the firm’s evolution.
“The combination will allow us to offer an even broader array of sophisticated solutions to our clients,” he said. “What’s equally exciting is the strong cultural alignment.”
Brownlie & Braden was founded in 1997 and joined Focus as a partner firm in 2017. The RIA works with high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, providing personalized advice, tax and estate planning and other services.
Prairie Capital was founded in 1995, and it managed $5 billion when Focus acquired it in 2021. In addition to its headquarters in Kansas City (and the newly acquired Brownlie & Braden Dallas-Fort Worth offices), Prairie Capital has principals in Chicago and Denver. The firm works with UHNW individuals, family offices, foundations and endowments, and its services include wealth management, financial planning, tax and estate planning and other family office needs.
According to Prairie Capital Managing Director Andy Klocke, Dallas-Fort Worth is a “key strategic market” for the firm, and the combination of the two Focus partner firms will “significantly enhance” Prairie Capital’s presence there.
“Brownlie & Braden’s expertise, dedication, and shared values make this combination a natural fit,” he said.
Last year, WealthManagement.com reported that Focus Financial expected to consolidate around 90 independently operated subsidiaries into several of its already-existing larger firms.
As part of this strategy, Focus marked several firms as “hubs” for taking in existing firms, including The Colony Group, Kovitz Investment Group Partners and SCS Capital Management LLC. Earlier this month, Focus named the Los Angeles-based Gefland, Rennert & Feldman as its fourth hub.
Earlier this year, Focus appointed Mitch Kovitz, the principal, founder, and co-chief investment officer at the $7.68 billion partner firm Kovitz, as vice chairman; additionally, Michael Nathanson, CEO of the $21 billion Colony Group, became Focus’ president (and later CEO).
Focus has continued consolidating its partner firms, including merging The Colony Group with GW & Wade, a Massachusetts-based RIA with $10.4 billion in managed assets. Focus combined The Colony Group with partner firm Buckingham Strategic Wealth in May to create a $50.2 billion RIA.
In June, Focus shifted Connectus Wealth Advisers’ U.S.-based business lines into The Colony Group and Kovitz Investment Group Partners; one month later, Kovitz bought the $2.6 billion partner firm Relative Value Partners Group, bringing Kovitz to more than $24 billion in assets.
This week, Focus announced that two Connecticut-based partner firms, Coastal Bridge Advisors and TrinityPoint Wealth, would combine under the Coastal Bridge name.
Last year, Focus was taken private in a sale to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. In the aftermath, all three Focus founders, including former COO Raijini Kodialam, former M&A head Lenny Chang and former CEO Rudy Adolf, exited.