Hightower Advisors has announced its first acquisition of 2021 and its largest ever. The firm said it was purchasing Bel Air Investment Advisors, a Los Angeles-based registered investment advisor with $8 billion in client assets, from Fiera Capital Corporation, a Montreal-based publicly traded investment management firm.
Hightower has acquired 14 RIAs since early 2019, the most recent being Austin-based Hart Financial Group, LLC, with $800 million in client assets, in October.
Bel Air, which has 43 employees, 10 of which are client-facing advisors, serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, trusts and foundations with $20 million or more in assets. The RIA was purchased by Fiera Capital in 2013, and the acquisition by Hightower brings it back to private ownership.