Hightower Advisors, the Chicago-based registered investment advisor with $353 billion in client assets, has agreed to acquire Journey Strategic Wealth, its first external acquisition for Hightower Signature Wealth, the branded W-2 channel it launched in October.
Journey will bring approximately $5 billion in assets under management, and the transaction is expected to close at the end of this month.
Journey Strategic Wealth, based in Summit, N.J., but with offices in California and Virginia, was a hybrid RIA affiliated with broker/dealer Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments. The firm, which was run as a partnership, has 24 employees, including 16 advisors, and serves nearly 1,000 clients.
Journey Strategic was founded in 2021 by Penny Phillips, who had founded and run Thrivos Consulting, which worked with financial services firms and advisors. Phillips’ firm had made its own acquisitions over the years to expand the team.
With the move to Hightower, Phillips will become head of advisor strategy and client experience at Hightower Signature.
“The future of wealth management belongs to firms that deliver personalization at scale, comprehensive services and an integrated client experience,” Phillips said in a statement.
The acquisition will expand Hightower Signature’s footprint to more than $25 billion in assets under management across 27 locations. In January, Hightower announced it had added five advisory practices to the division from its own network.
Dalphia Partners served as financial advisor on the Journey Strategic deal, and Seward & Kissel served as legal counsel.
“Under Penny’s leadership, Journey has built a highly respected advisory business defined by incredible talent, consistent organic growth, and a clear client-first culture—all closely aligned with what we have built at Hightower Signature Wealth,” Hightower CEO Larry Restieri said in a statement.
Hightower is majority-owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, which first invested in the firm in 2018 and then recapitalized it with other investors in 2020.