HighTower Picks Up Advisors With Over $1B in AUM

Two recent HighTower deals, adding a big RIA and a large wirehouse team, mark a further advance in the firm's goal building out its ranks.

Last week, HighTower said it acquired an RIA with $700 million in assets. On Monday, HighTower announced the addition of a Morgan Stanley team that managed $450 million in client assets.

CEO Elliot Weissbluth said that the addition of the RIA, RDM Financial Group, and its founder "is a powerful validation of our platform, our brand and our financial strength."

HighTower, which has both employee and independent advisors, was founded in 2007. The Chicago-based firm currently has about $30 billion in assets, more than 400 employees and 56 advisor teams, according to a spokeswoman.

The acquisition of RDM adds 15 employees and two offices: Boca Raton, Fla., and Westport, Conn., a suburb of New York. A HighTower spokeswoman said that RDM will open a new location within HighTower's New York office.

Ron Weiner, RDM's founder, is an industry veteran, having earned his Series 7 in 1984, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records.

Weiner said in a statement that he decided to partner with HighTower because he needed access to additional resources and scale in order to serve his clients. HighTower's platform, he said, "is the ideal destination for me and my clients."

WIREHOUSE RECRUITS

Former Morgan Stanley advisors Joseph Feinberg and Tamara Stein joined HighTower's independent platform. They operate from two offices in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Like Wiener, Feinberg cited HighTower's resources as a motive for making the move.

Feinberg had been with Morgan since 1993, according to BrokerCheck records.  Stein started her career at the wirehouse in 2001.

The team, operating as the Feinberg Stein Group, specializes in serving clients in the legal services industry, according to HighTower.

A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley confirmed the departures but declined to comment further.

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