Aspen Standard Wealth Buys $2.8B Bay Area RIA

Aspen Standard Wealth, a holding company that acquires registered investment advisory firms, has made its first deal, acquiring Summitry, a San Francisco-based wealth manager with $2.8 billion in assets under management.

Financial terms of the deal, which closed on Friday, were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003 and led by CEO Colin Higgins, Summitry offers a wide range of institutional grade investing and advisory services, including financial planning, retirement planning, estate and trust services, and equity compensation advice.

At a time when private equity money remains conspicuous in the wealth sector M&A, Aspen claims it takes a different approach. “Unlike other acquirers, Aspen’s plan is to build for the long term, not to resell,” it said. “This philosophy keeps everyone aligned and invested in further maturing and growing the business, with less friction than most conventional transactions.”

“We are the sorely needed alternative to traditional investment firms in that we enable our partners to thrive long term,” Aly Kassim-Lakha, CEO of Aspen, said, who was previously an investor with private equity firm Advent International.

Launched earlier this year, Aspen is backed by San Francisco-based private equity firm Alpine Investors. All Aspen workers own shares in the company, and the acquisition has resulted in Summitry’s top team becoming owners as well. Aspen claims that management teams of firms it acquires in the future will also become stakeholders.