Bluespring Wealth Partners, the registered investment advisor acquisition arm of Kestra Holdings, is acquiring Signature Wealth, a $1.41 billion Kestra Financial-affiliated firm based in Pittsburgh.
The deal is Bluespring’s eighth acquisition this year, and according to Signature CEO Marc Tennebaum, the deal positions the firm “for sustainable growth” and keeps continuity for clients.
“Bluespring offers the scale, infrastructure and strategic resources we need to keep elevating our business, without compromising the level of service we provide,” Tennenbaum said.
According to Bluespring, Signature offers clients “comprehensive guidance” including personalized investment strategies, estate planning, tax needs, philanthropic planning and business consulting. As part of the deal, Bluespring will assume back-office functions, including payroll, HR and benefits administration.
Bluespring is based in Austin, Texas, and operates under the broader auspices of Kestra, which oversees about $142 billion in total client assets through its myriad companies (including independent broker/dealer Kestra Financial, which staffs about 1,800 advisors, and Kestra Private Wealth Services, a hybrid RIA in Austin).
Late last month, Kestra Private Wealth Services acquired Ascend Private Wealth Partners, an $866 million Merrill breakaway, while in June, Bluespring merged two Texas-based firms to create a $1.4 billion RIA (like Signature, the two firms were originally Kestra affiliates).
The move came amid Kestra considering a W-2 channel to encourage more breakaway acquisitions, according to CEO James Poer during a Q&A with WealthManagement.com.(He also noted that Bluespring advisors technically become W-2 employees when acquiring their business, but they often aren’t coming via a wirehouse.)
According to Poer, Bluespring is in line for a “record-setting” M&A year, saying the Bluespring business is the “one that has an extra rocket booster on it.” Power also said Bluepsring would add “a lot of talent” in the final two months of 2025.
In September 2024, Kestra hired Pradeep Jayaraman as president of Bluespring to lead the M&A business; he joined from Focus Financial Partners, where he’d been a former co-head of partnerships and business development.
In April, Bluespring hired Graeme Lee, a former LPL Financial executive, as its head of strategic growth, focusing on leading the firm’s RIA network through the challenges of organic growth and integrating advisory-adjacent services into Kestra’s portfolio of companies.
With Lee’s hiring, the firm also brought in Jeremy Ransom and Jon Bartholomew as strategic relationship directors to consult with RIAs.