Venturi Private Wealth, a Texas-based registered investment advisor with $ 2.1 billion in client assets, has sold a minority stake in its business to Bravura Capital, the private equity vehicle of Kent Weldon, an advisory partner of long-time private equity firm Thomas H. Lee.

Venturi was founded in 2015 by Russ Norwood, who left Merrill Lynch after a 24-year career in spinning. The company focuses primarily on what Norwood calls “first generation wealth builders,” such as business owners going through M&A activity and executives of state-owned companies.

“They are going through a liquidity event for the first time and have a whole series of issues that they have to solve for what they maybe didn’t have before because they have large amounts of cash, they have problems. estate planning issues, they have family dynamics and governance issues, ”said Norwood.

Over the past five years, Venturi has experienced compound annual growth of 30%. Norwood said his company decided a few years ago to consider bringing in a financial partner to help it in the next stage of its growth; it intends to increase its client assets to $ 10 billion over the next few years.

As Norwood and his team met with different financial partners, they decided not to use private equity. They were looking for a long-term capital partner, not an investor looking for a liquidity event in a few years.

“We have had conversations and opportunities with private equity partners, but the timing and motivations on the private equity side did not seem to us to best match our vision for the industry,” he said. .

Alternatively, Venturi also didn’t want to sell to a RIA roll-up model, especially given its expansion plans in the South West region.

“My personal perspective is that national groupings are really going to be challenged to integrate cultures, at the end of the day,” said Norwood. “They have favorable winds right now due to great markets, but maintaining what we want to maintain internally – which I think is part of the DNA of our growth – is critically important to us. We wanted to focus on building a regional partnership, as we are currently in the middle of one of the most promising markets in the country. “

Weldon has made a long-term private investment in the business. Venturi plans to leverage its expertise in alternative and private equity capital, as well as its connections across the wealth management industry.

He said he sees a lot of growth opportunities in the wealth management and independent RIA space.

“The growth in global wealth, if you will, over a long period of time, we’ve seen it compound at attractive rates,” Weldon said. “As a Russ and Venturi business, it is an independent wealth management, which takes more than its share in proportion to the growth of global assets, as people migrate out of the world of wirehouse or d ‘other channels that could be a bit more conflicting. . “

He is also optimistic about the demand for financial advice.

“Customers are really looking for exceptional advice and a relationship of trust. It makes the business very sticky, if you will, very rewarding for advisors and clients, and in the long run, businesses that have built themselves around these mantras will continue to be part of the industry and grow their business.