Carson acquires $218M AUM hybrid

Carson Wealth Management said today it had acquired a hybrid advisory firm with $218 million assets under management, and plans to complete up to eight such deals by the end of the year. The firm it acquired, Caton Financial Inc., a San Rafael, Calif., firm formerly affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services Inc., will transition its business through Carson Institutional Advisory, a new venture of Carson Wealth and its chief executive, Ron Carson. The office will use the Carson Wealth Management brand. Caton Financial's founder, Nancy Caton, is affiliated with LPL Financial LLC, Mr. Carson's broker-dealer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ms. Caton has committed to staying with Carson Wealth Management for a minimum of five years. In an interview, Mr. Carson said Carson Wealth had made other acquisitions of hybrid brokers this year but would likely delay an announcement until September, which is the one-year anniversary of the launch of Carson Institutional Advisory. That group gives outside advisers access to Carson Wealth's proprietary research and investment strategies, valuations for succession planning, a co-branded iPad application and other services. “There are several acquisitions we have not announced yet,” Mr. Carson said. Carson Wealth plans to buy “seven to eight offices by year-end,” he said. “We've seen a tremendous response by key players in the market,” he said. “Advisers appreciate our flexible approach and overnight succession plan. And succession planning is a bigger problem than we think.” Mr. Carson intends to continue expanding the business, with an emphasis on succession planning, which was Ms. Caton's main motivation to sell her practice to Carson Wealth. “This had nothing to with leaving Raymond James,” she said. “It had everything to do with a succession plan. I've been trying to do that for eight years.” Ms. Caton, 65, said clients have been asking when she was going to retire, and what would happen in her absence. “It really haunted me,” she said. “I tried unsuccessfully to put it together. Now I've got this big team behind me. “ Ms. Caton was particularly concerned about what would happen to her clients if something sudden or unexpected occurred, such as an accident or an illness. “At my prior firm, they would have come in, taken my clients and passed them out” to other advisers, she said. “Now, with Ron, people are in place to take care of my clients.” Carson Wealth oversees $3.2 billion in client assets. Barron's magazine has ranked Mr. Carson as one of the country's top 10 financial advisers for the past five years.