Atlanta-based Homrich Berg (HB) Wealth Management announced Wednesday that it agreed to acquire WMS Partners (WMS), a $6.4 billion multi-family office and RIA based in Towson, Maryland. Both firms operate on a fee-only basis.
As part of the transaction, expected to close early in the first quarter of 2025, WMS will become part of HB Family Office. The WMS acquisition will boost HB’s total assets under management (AUM) to more than $24 billion and expand its footprint to include 10 offices in five states with more than 300 team members.
At the closing of the transaction, all 21 WMS shareholders will become owners in HB, bringing the total shareholder count for the combined firm to more than 70, according to a news release.
WMS launched in 1993 and has been providing holistic wealth management and family office services for high and ultra-high net worth individuals and families, including trust and estate planning and a private investments platform.
WMS was founded by Tim Chase, David Citron and Martin Eby, and has grown to over 80 employees and partners, HB said.
“HB is highly selective as we evaluate potential partners, and we are thrilled to join forces with WMS Partners who we have long admired for their unwavering commitment to serving as a fiduciary to client families,” said Thomas Carroll, Homrich Berg CEO and President.
“WMS and HB share a unique approach to advanced planning and private market investing, and this collaboration will complement and enhance our service offering, allowing us to even better serve clients with complex planning and investment needs as we move to become the premier independent fee-only RIA in the Southeast plus region,” Carroll added.
“Our pledge to client families has always been to create a permanent solution to serve multiple generations,” according to Eby, who serves as Senior Advisor at WMS.
“By joining HB, we will fulfill that promise and benefit from a platform and leadership team that shares our unwavering commitment to always putting clients first,” Eby said. “We look forward to a seamless transition and know the essence of WMS will remain as we join HB.”
WMS already had a “multi-year relationship with HB and have built strong connections across our organizations,” Todd Wickwire, CEO of WMS, pointed out.
“We feel very fortunate to have found a firm with shared values and a vision of serving clients as fiduciaries and innovating through their investment and planning platforms,” said Wickwire.
The transaction represents a “pivotal inflection point in HB’s growth story expanding into the mid-Atlantic region and comes on the heels of recent milestones” for HB, it said.
Those milestones included a strategic minority investment from TPG Growth and the opening of a Tampa, Florida, office through the addition of a 12-person team.
The WMS acquisition is HB’s first since hiring Andrew Page, Head of Corporate Development, to lead its mergers and acquisitions activities.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher served as legal counsel to WMS, while Alston & Bird served as legal counsel to HB.
HB manages more than $18 billion in client assets.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jberman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
