Kovitz Investment Group Partners, one of the few “hub” companies in which Focus Financial plans to consolidate the remaining partners of its network, has taken another step in this direction.
Kovitz has agreed to acquire Relative Value Partners (RVP) Group, a Northbrook, Illinois-based Focus firm that has over $2.5 billion in assets under management as of March 2024, according to an ADV filing. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter of 2024, will bring Kovitz to more than $24 billion in client assets.
Focus had previously bought out Kovitz’s management team to transform it into a “hub” company that would acquire other Focus partner RIAs. Mitch Kovitz, CEO of Kovitz, was named vice chairman of Focus in January. In April, Michael Nathanson, CEO of The Colony Group, another Focus hub, was named CEO of Focus.
RVP was founded in 2004 by industry veterans Maury Fertig and Bob Huffman. It is aimed at high net worth individuals and institutions. The RIA became a partner of Focus in 2015.
“Since our company’s founding, we have been looking for opportunities that would allow us to enhance the services and tools we offer our customers,” Huffman said in a statement. “We have known and respected the Kovitz team for many years and believe joining forces with Kovitz is a natural next step in our evolution as a company.”
When Clayton, Dubilier & Rice bought Focus last year, its three founders left, including former COO Rajini Kodialam, former M&A chief Lenny Chang and CEO Rudy Adolf, who left in October. Under the new owners, Focus planned to integrate about 90 independent subsidiaries into several of its largest firms (including Colony and Kovitz).
In April, Kovitz agreed to buy Strategic Wealth Partners Group, a Focus firm located an hour north of its Chicago headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois.
In May, Focus merged its partner firm Buckingham Strategic Wealth with The Colony Group, creating an RIA with $50.2 billion in assets. Adam Birenbaum, chairman and CEO of Buckingham, became CEO of the combined company.
In June, Focus shifted the U.S.-based Connectus Wealth Advisers business 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 shifted Connectus’ Greenwich, Connecticut-based NorthCoast Asset Management business to Kovitz.
Earlier this year, Focus also merged Colony with GW & Wade, a Wellesley, Massachusetts-based RIA with $10.4 billion in client assets.
