Adviser Investments to Merge With Ropes Wealth Advisors

What You Need to Know

Together, Adviser Investments and Ropes Wealth will manage almost $15 billion in assets and have more than 185 employees.
The management of both groups will own the combined firm in partnership with global growth equity investment firm Summit Partners.
The entity will be the the preferred provider of wealth management services to global law firm Ropes & Gray.

Adviser Investments and Ropes Wealth Advisors are combining their wealth management businesses to provide customized wealth solutions through a “planning-first, fiduciary-only model.”

Adviser Investments is an independent registered investment advisor that serves families, businesses, foundations and institutions. Started 30 years ago, the company says it has more than 5,000 clients across the U.S., with offices in multiple locations including Boston, Dallas and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ropes Wealth, an advisory firm supporting families, trusts and institutions, was created in 2013 and became an RIA in 2015. Previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the global law firm Ropes & Gray, Ropes Wealth will continue to have its offices in Boston’s Prudential Tower and “maintain close ties to its former parent company, acting as the preferred provider of wealth management services to Ropes & Gray clients and partners,” Ropes Wealth and Adviser said.

The deal, which includes $6 billion in Ropes Wealth assets being acquired by Adviser Investments, is expected to close in July, an Adviser Investments spokesperson told ThinkAdvisor on Tuesday.

The management of both groups will own the combined firm in partnership with global growth equity investment firm Summit Partners, which, in 2020, made a growth capital investment in Adviser to support its national expansion.

Adviser declined to say if Summit made or plans to make an additional investment as part of the new deal. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed beyond what was included in the press release Adviser and Ropes Wealth jointly released on Tuesday.

The combination will expand “advisory capabilities for both firms [and] reinforces shared strengths in serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, trusts and endowments,” the firms said.

Together, Adviser and Ropes Wealth will manage almost $15 billion in client assets and have more than 185 employees, including wealth advisors, portfolio managers, fiduciary and financial planning specialists and client service professionals who focus on high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients across the U.S.