Family Office & RIA Roundup: Emerging Markets Make a Comeback

Family Office & RIA Roundup

Volume 145 | 6/26/2025

The Summa Group joins Stifel, Focus Partners Wealth makes another acquisition, and Applied Intuition hits $15B valuation in this week's edition...

Take a Lap Around the Industry 🏃

Buss Family Reportedly to Sell Majority Ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter in Record $10B Deal (Yahoo Sports)
AI Planning Startup Quinn Raises $11M in Seed Round (Citywire)
Apella Wealth Enters Midwest with $574M Iowa RIA Buy (Citywire)
Wealthy Europeans Lured by Tax Havens Face Surge in Exit Charges (Bloomberg)

Family Office Deal Tracker

In a post-IPO equity round, PureCycle Technologies, the plastic recycling company, has raised $300M with backing from Duquesne Family Office
James Simons' family office Euclidean Capital has participated in a $66M Series B funding round for Actio Biosciences, the biotech firm focused on translating genetic findings into medicine
In a Series C round, the healthcare operations automation firm, Tennr has raised $101M with support from ICONIQ Capital Family Office
At a $15B valuation, Applied Intuition has closed a Series F funding round for $600M with backing from Premji Invest

Source: FINTRX

Advisor Movement 🚨

Managing $2.1B in assets, The Summa Group, based in Los Angeles, CA, has left Oppenheimer for Stifel (AdvisorHub)
Managing $500M in client assets, Cottonwood Capital Management has left Morgan Stanley for Raymond James (Financial Advisor IQ)
Apollon has snagged the ex-Janney team, Chornyak & Associates, which brings $1.7B in assets (Citywire)
The Novak Cancienne Tresca & Kungel Wealth Management team has left UBS to join Raymond James (Financial Advisor IQ)

M&A Activity

Focus Partners Wealth, a $140B Focus Financial affiliate, has acquired $239M David Wealth Management in Fairfax, VA, led by founder Jim David and his son C.J.. This deal marks Focus Partners' second external acquisition since being taken private by CD&R in 2023.

The acquisition is part of Focus’s broader M&A strategy, with CEO Adam Birenbaum reaffirming that both external acquisitions and internal consolidations remain strategic priorities for enhancing client value
Focus Partners Wealth has recently absorbed internal affiliates like the $1.2B Spectrum Wealth Management and plans to merge $35B Kovitz Investment Group by late 2025
The firm is also undergoing leadership changes, naming Dhruv Gupta as CFO and expanding Birenbaum’s role to president of Focus Financial Partners, as it eyes growth in key markets like the greater Washington, D.C. region

Source: Citywire

Reps On the Move ↗️

Former LPL Financial exec, Andy Kalbaugh, joins $8.8B Las Vegas-based Wealth Consulting Group as President (WealthManagement.com)
Coming from Wells Fargo, Michael Liersch joins $287B Edelman Financial Engines as Chief Planning Officer (Citywire)
Orion has snagged Valli Nachiappan, who has years of software development experience, to serve as Chief Technology Officer (Citywire)
Ray Sclafani, founder and CEO of ClientWise, has moved to Bleakley Financial Group's board of directors (WealthManagement.com)

Emerging Markets Stage a Surprise Rally in 2025

Emerging market (EM) assets are staging a striking comeback in 2025, defying geopolitical instability and U.S. protectionism to outperform developed market counterparts. A JP Morgan index tracking local currency bonds in major developing economies and an MSCI gauge of EM equities are both up roughly 10% year-to-date, outpacing gains in global stocks and government bonds. After years of underinvestment and dollar dominance, investors are reengaging with emerging markets, drawn by attractive inflation-adjusted yields, undervalued equities, and a weaker U.S. dollar that gives EM central banks room to cut rates. Despite continued geopolitical tensions and a brief exodus during the peak of U.S. tariff concerns in April, inflows resumed in May and June. Market watchers also note renewed confidence in Chinese tech and innovation as global investors seek growth beyond the U.S.. Meanwhile, developed markets are now grappling with debt and fiscal issues once associated with the developing world, flipping the risk narrative on its head.

Source: FT

Written by:

Sharah Roy

Sr. Research Associate

FINTRX is an industry-leading AI-powered data intelligence solution covering 850,000+ financial firm and contact records, designed to empower industry professionals to efficiently and effectively engage with the global private wealth ecosystem. With innovative AI utility, detailed search parameters and customizable workflow tools, FINTRX enables seamless tracking of allocation trends, in-depth analysis of investment data, high-level relationship mapping and much more. To learn more or request a trial of the FINTRX product, click below.

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