Two Focus Network Firms Merge Into Coastal Bridge
Coastal Bridge Advisors, a Westport, Conn.-headquartered registered investment advisor, is merging with Memphis-based Waddell & Associates and One Charles Private Wealth, a Hingham, Mass.-based wealth management firm. All three are in the Focus Financial Partners network, and this move builds upon Focus’s consolidation efforts.
Waddell & Associates and One Charles are joining Coastal Bridge as part of the transaction, creating an RIA with $10 billion in total assets as of June 30 and 72 professionals, including 34 financial advisors and 20 partners. The firm will have eight offices, including Milford and Westport, Conn.; Charlotte, N.C.; Los Angeles; Memphis; Nashville; Hingham, Mass.; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The Coastal Bridge team broke away from Merrill Lynch in 2008, and became one of the original teams to launch with Focus Financial Partners in 2009. It was founded by Kevin Burns, Jim Pratt-Heaney and Bill Loftus. The firm is now run by CEO Jim Betzig, who joined in 2024 via the merger with TrinityPoint Wealth, and President Mark Dupont, who spent nearly 14 years at Focus prior to joining Coastal Bridge in 2024. Loftus now serves as chief revenue officer, while Burns is chairman.
Waddell & Associates was founded in 1986 by Duke and Clara Waddell. The firm is now run by their son, David, president and CEO. It became a Focus partner in 2016.
The One Charles team, led by Paul Squarcia and Erik R. Wallin, left Merrill Lynch in 2015 to create their own RIA with Focus’s help. The firm then joined the Focus partnership in 2017. One Charles currently has a broker/dealer relationship with Purshe Kaplan Sterling, but Dupont says the combined firm will have no broker/dealer affiliation.
The firm will be custodian-agnostic, working with Pershing, Schwab and Fidelity.
In 2023, Focus Financial Partners was taken private in a sale to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Months later, Focus started a multi-year effort to merge its 90 independently-operated subsidiary practices into a handful of its largest firms, or “partners.”
Over 60% of the firm’s earnings now come from Focus Partners, with about 40 of the 90 original firms having been consolidated. Coastal Bridge is one of about 50 firms that are still in the Focus network, and haven’t been consolidated into one of its “hub” entities.
But Dupont said the RIA has become a real option for some of these network firms to merge into, as Focus continues to consolidate.
“I spent many great years with Focus Financial Partners, and with their continued support, we have been humbled by their trust and faith in us to continue to help in their overall consolidation strategy for the entire business,” he said. “The fact that if one of those companies isn’t quite ready in their evolution to sell to Focus at some point, we are here to work on combining the resources.”
