MAI Enters Atlanta Market With Acquisition Of Waypoint Wealth

Cleveland-based MAI Capital Management has acquired fee-only registered investment advisor Waypoint Wealth Counsel, adding about $490 million in assets and jumping into the Atlanta market.

Founded in 2014 by Brad McGrew and Matthew Woods, Atlanta-based Waypoint provides financial planning and investment management to affluent and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, with a particular focus on entrepreneurs, business owners, executives and multigenerational families, according to a press release.

Waypoint, which oversees assets for more than 100 households, also offers alternative investments through two proprietary private investment funds.

MAI, which didn’t disclose terms of the transaction, said Waypoint joined MAI on Friday.

Woods and McGrew will continue to lead Waypoint, serving as market leaders in their new roles at MAI, according to the release.

MAI said the partnership gives it entry into a market management sees as strategically important while providing Waypoint access to MAI’s broader planning resources, family office capabilities, alternative investment sourcing, lending solutions and operational infrastructure.

“This acquisition gives us the opportunity to enter a market we have long viewed as strategically important, but finding the right people mattered more than simply expanding our footprint. With Waypoint, we found both an outstanding team and an opportunity-filled market,” MAI Chairman and CEO Rick Buoncore said.

Woods noted how important “sophisticated, full-service wealth management” is to the growing concentration of entrepreneurs, executives and generational wealth that’s forming in Atlanta.

“Joining MAI allows us to combine the local relationships and market knowledge we have built over more than a decade with the resources of a national firm,” he said in a statement. “Through MAI’s platform, including its Evoke ultra-high-net worth team, we’re looking forward to the added depth and investment expertise, particularly as it relates to delivering on the needs of the clients we are fortunate to serve.”

Colchester Partners served as financial advisor and Arnall Golden Gregory served as legal advisor to Waypoint.

The acquisitive MAI is plowing the acquisition trail these days with enhanced capital firepower. In June the RIA, which has more than 700 team members managing and advising on $77.3 billion in total assets, said private equity giant Carlyle took a majority stake in the firm, valuing MAI at more than $2.8 billion.