Summit Financial Holdings has purchased a minority investment stake in Rhode Island-based Ivy Wealth Management, which oversees about $500 million in total client assets and deepens the RIA’s presence in the Northeast. 

Ivy Wealth Management was founded in 2010 and is led by president Brad Ingegneri, after spending nearly 10 years at Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch. The firm offers retirement planning, tax and estate planning, investment management, and insurance services to high-net-worth families and business owners, per Ivy’s website. 

Prior to joining Summit, the firm was affiliated with Walpole, MA-based RIA Patriot Financial Group and Cetera Financial Specialists. The addition is part of the RIA’s Summit Growth Partners initiative, in which the firm has taken a non-controlling stake in Ivy.  

Summit Growth Partners, which launched in 2020, is a partnership program that connects RIAs with Summit’s capital, technology, M&A, and investment management resources.  

All 12 of Ivy’s employees, including Ingegneri, have transitioned to Summit following the deal, a Summit spokesperson confirmed to Connect Money. 

“We built Ivy to deliver personalized, sophisticated guidance that brings greater peace of mind for our clients. By partnering with Summit, we’re taking our client-first service to a whole new level,” Ingegneri said. “Ivy can now draw on deeper resources and capabilities, including enhanced technology and investment management platforms, to drive better outcomes for the families we serve.” 

The transaction marks Summit’s 14th deal of the year, boosting the RIA’s total assets under management to over $25 billion, the firm said. 

Summit’s latest addition comes after the firm added four RIA firms, Crow Financial Advisors, Everest Consultants, Heritage Wealth Partners, and LPF Advisors to its roster, adding over $1.2 billion in total client assets to the firm. 

Since 2021, Summit Financial has been backed by serial RIA investor Merchant Investment Management.

Pictured: Ivy Wealth Management