Kovitz Investment Group Partners, one of the “hub” firms into which Focus Financial is moving to consolidate the remaining partners in its network, has taken another step in that direction.
Kovitz has agreed to acquire Fort Pitt Capital Group, a Pittsburgh-based Focus partner firm with $5.9 billion in client assets. The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, will bring Kovitz’s assets to nearly $30 billion.
Focus previously bought out the Kovitz management team to convert it into a “hub” firm that acquires other Focus partner RIAs. Mitch Kovitz, CEO of Kovitz, became a Focus vice chairman in January. In April, Michael Nathanson, CEO of The Colony Group, another Focus hub, was named CEO of Focus.
Fort Pitt was founded in 1995 by Theodore Bovard, current CEO of the RIA. The RIA’s leadership team and advisors will join Kovitz. The firm joined the Focus partnership in 2015. In 2019, Focus facilitated Fort Pitt’s subacquisition of Harrisburg, Pa.-based Roof Advisory Group.
“Since 1995, our team has grown tremendously in both the employees we support and the clients we are fortunate to serve,” Bovard said in a statement. “Becoming a part of Kovitz will be the latest milestone in our ongoing mission to expand and enhance our capabilities, which will enable us to better meet the complex and evolving needs of our clients.”
When Clayton, Dubilier & Rice bought Focus last year, the firm’s three founders exited, including former COO Rajini Kodialam, former M&A head Lenny Chang and CEO Rudy Adolf, who left in October. Under the new owners, Focus planned to merge around 90 independently owned subsidiary practices into several of its largest firms (including Colony and Kovitz).
Most recently, Kovitz acquired Relative Value Partners (RVP) Group, a Focus firm located in Northbrook, Ill., managing more than $2.5 billion in assets as of March 2024. In April, the RIA agreed to buy Strategic Wealth Partners Group, a Focus firm an hour north of its Chicago headquarters in Deerfield, Ill. In May, Focus merged partner firm Buckingham Strategic Wealth with The Colony Group to create a $50.2 billion RIA. Buckingham Chairman and CEO Adam Birenbaum became the CEO of the combined company.
In June, Focus shifted Connectus Wealth Advisers’ U.S.-based business lines to The Colony Group and Kovitz Investment Group Partners. The Colony Group added Atlas Private Wealth Management, Connectus Private, Hunt Valley Wealth, Mid-Continent Capital and NEIRG Wealth Management. Focus moved Connectus’ Greenwich, Conn.-based NorthCoast Asset Management business line to Kovitz.
Earlier in the year, Focus also merged Colony and GW & Wade, a Wellesley, Mass.-based RIA with $10.4 billion in client assets.