Benzinga | May 3, 2021 07:21AM EDT

Congress Wealth Management Acquires Pinnacle Advisory Group; Deal Terms Not Disclosed

Congress Wealth Management, LLC ("CWM") and CI Financial Corp. ("CI") (TSX:CIX, NYSE:CIXX) announced today that CWM has acquired Pinnacle Advisory Group, Inc. ("Pinnacle") of Columbia, MD in a transaction that increases the size of CWM's business by 70% and expands its presence to new markets on the East Coast and in South Florida.

The addition of Pinnacle's $2.4 billion in assets and offices in Columbia and Miami will increase CWM's business to $5.8 billion and seven offices nationwide.

The transaction, which closed on April 30, 2021, was financially supported by CI, which holds a significant strategic ownership stake in CWM as part of a U.S. wealth management business with direct investments in 13 registered investment advisor ("RIA") firms with $56 billion in assets.

"Pinnacle is an ideal addition to our firm with an impressive group of investment professionals and financial planning advisors," said Paul Lonergan, CWM President. "We are also fortunate to have CI Financial as a strategic partner. Given the size and complexity of the transaction, we could not have executed this without their ongoing support."

The combination with Pinnacle deepens CWM's financial planning, trust planning, and tax expertise through access to Pinnacle's team of professionals, while Pinnacle clients will benefit from a wider range of investment products and strategies.

"We believe there are tremendous complementary advantages by combining our firm with Congress Wealth. From day one we felt a connection between the firm's cultures," said John Hill, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Pinnacle. "We were extremely impressed with Congress's year-over-year growth rate, and their ability to execute a comprehensive expansion strategy."

"Congress and Pinnacle exemplify the high quality of the firms within CI's network and the benefits of partnership," said Kurt MacAlpine, CI Chief Executive Officer. "Paul and his team have been an exceptional addition to our group and have more than doubled Congress Wealth's assets since we made our investment last year. The addition of Pinnacle is the latest step in the firm's continued growth and development."

CI, a diversified global asset and wealth manager, entered the U.S. wealth management market in early 2020 and has become one of the fastest-growing RIA platforms through 17 acquisitions (including Pinnacle and other acquisitions by affiliated RIAs) and strong organic growth. The Pinnacle transaction and other recently completed acquisitions will increase CI's U.S. assets to approximately $58 billion and its total combined assets under management and wealth management assets to approximately $225 billion (C$283 billion).