by Ali Hibbs
Concurrent Investment Advisors, an independent firm that left Raymond James Financial three years ago, has bought a San Diego-based retirement planning affiliate, according to Concurrent CEO Nate Lenz.
Concurrent, which was founded in 2017, has made several minority investments but Next Retirement Solutions is its first full acquisition, Lenz said. He had recruited the team to Raymond James in 2016 from Wells Fargo. NRS advises on $10 billion in assets held in 401(k) plans, corporate stock plans and other benefits programs for around 150,000 participants.
The deal, which closed on September 10, solidifies Concurrent’s in-house institutional retirement business and creates a pipeline for new clients that it hopes will work with Concurrent’s full-service advisors, according to Lenz. It will also rebrand NRS as Concurrent Retirement, he added.
“We’ve been talking for a long time about how we could kind of cross-pollinate the institutional business with our retail business,” Lenz said.
The strategy takes a page from some larger Wall Street firms such as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, which has been building out a corporate stock plan and “workplace” channel to funnel customers to its 15,000 brokers.
Concurrent paid for NRS mostly with equity but also some cash, according to Lenz, who did not provide specifics.
Concurrent manages around $14 billion in assets, not including NRS’s assets under advisement. That is above the $13 billion that Concurrent had managed when Raymond James parted ways with the practice. Executives at the St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm said in 2023 that it had retained over half of Concurrent’s advisors and client assets.
“We’ve officially climbed out of the hole, so to speak,” Lenz said.
Concurrent is backed by serial RIA investor Merchant Investment Management, which bought a minority stake in 2021. Lenz said he hopes Concurrent will reach $30 billion in assets within the next three years.
Read the original article on AdvisorHub.
