Three Focus Financial Partners Firms Merge Into $10B RIA

Three separately operated partner firms under the Focus Financial Partners’ umbrella -- Coastal Bridge Advisors, Waddell & Associates and One Charles Private Wealth – have merged into a combined firm overseeing more than $10 billion in assets under management, as of the end of last month. Coastal Bridge, of Westport, Conn., said in a news release that the unified firm created by the merger will operate as Coastal Bridge Advisors and bring together about 20 partners and 52 professionals. The operations are spread across offices in Hingham, Mass., where One Charles is based; Milford and Westport, Conn.; Charlotte, N.C; Memphis and Nashville, Tenn, where Waddell operates; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Los Angeles, Calif. David Waddell, formerly CEO and chief investment strategist of Waddell, serves as chairman and chief investment strategist of the new firm, alongside Kevin G. Burns, Coastal Bride Advisors’ founder and co-chairman; Jim Betzig, CEO; Mark Dupont, president; and Bill Loftus, chief revenue officer. “In our business, scale certainly matters,” said Dupont, who joined Coastal Bridge in 2024 after working at Focus Financial. “This combination brings together partners and team members whose wealth management experience and ability are incredibly difficult to assemble in today’s marketplace.” The big merger of the partner practices comes amid a consolidation of its 90 separately operated subsidiaries into more focused partner firms that Focus Financial began after being taken private by private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 2023. Focus Financial, which has offices in New York City and San Francisco and roughly 60 partner firms across the U.S., Australia, Canada and the U.K., had more than $500 billion in advised assets as of January. The trend established under former Focus CEO Michael Nathanson to consolidate as many Focus firms as were receptive into joining larger entities as part of what he called a "coalition of the willing." A major criticism of the original Focus structure was that all its more than 70 firms retained their independence and consequently were unable to capitalize on any economis of scale. CEO Betzig added that Paul Squarcia and Erik Wallin, founding partners of One Charles, have joined the combined firm as managing partner of its Florida office and managing partner of its Massachusetts office, respectively. In addition, Perry Green, formerly chief financial officer of Waddell, joins as chief planning officer, and Sean Gould a partner at Waddell, will be partner in the Tennessee region, according to Betzig.