North Little Rock, Arkansas-based RIA Sowell Management announced the launch of its Advisor Partnership Program to provide new and existing advisors with resources and capital. It said the program provides advisors with the opportunity to participate in the firm’s equity and long-term enterprise value. It will partner with New York-based Merchant for capital to fund the equity program, enhance its capabilities and execute its M&A strategy.
The program is designed to support succession and continuity planning, growth and operational scale.
“As we considered the next chapter of our growth, we wanted to demonstrate our appreciation for our advisors’ loyalty and their dedication to serving clients with distinction, while giving them additional incentive to support the ongoing success of the firm,” said Daryl Seaton, CEO of Sowell Management.
He continued, “We created our Advisor Partnership Program to ensure it reflected the values and culture that have made Sowell a unique presence in the RIA space for the past 25 years. We have always treated our advisors as partners in the business, and our new Program enables us to formalize that approach.”
“Scale has become increasingly critical for sustained success in wealth management, and it will become more so as the industry continues to consolidate,” said Bill Sowell, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Sowell Management. “After a thorough due diligence process, we invited Merchant to be the partner who will take us into the future. Merchant’s team has a deep understanding of the RIA space and respect for what we have built here at Sowell under the current leadership team.”
Merchant has over 130 partner firms and RIA practices in six countries, representing more than $340 billion in assets. It provides growth capital, resources and support to independent financial services firms.
“Sowell is an ideal partner firm for us,” said Matt Brinker, Managing Partner at Merchant. “With Daryl and Bill at the helm, they lead a strong management team that knows where they want to take the business and be a premier destination for established financial advisors serving the needs of sophisticated clients.”
Founded by Bill Sowell in 2001, Sowell Management had over $6.5 billion in assets as of April. In that month, it announced the launch of its Cache River private wealth division. In March, it added Altruist as a custodian. In January, it named Seaton as CEO.
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