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NorthRock Partners, a Minneapolis-based RIA managing over $12 billion in assets that is part of Sammons Financial Group, has acquired Vantage Financial Partners, adding $950 million in assets under management and 19 team members, including seven advisors, the company said.

The acquisition marks NorthRock’s second of the year and expands its presence across the Midwest with Vantage’s six offices in Elm Grove, Wis., Cincinnati, Ohio, Huron, S.D., Watertown, S.D., Columbus, Ohio and Youngstown, Ohio.

NorthRock, which serves ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth clients, sold a majority stake to insurance holding company Sammons in late 2023, in the insurer’s first move to build out a wealth channel. Northrock has since been adding firms and advisors with an offer to gain access to what it calls its Personal Office specialists, who offer wealth services across investments, tax, estate planning, insurance, legal, business services and philanthropy.

“Adding this talented team not only strengthens our Personal Office model, but it also expands our presence across the Midwest,” Northrock Partners CEO Rob Nelson said in a statement. 

Jeremy Gardner, partner and director of financial planning at Vantage, pointed to the Personal Office model as a way to give the firm’s advisors additional resources and expertise to use with clients.

“We measure success by the quality and personalization of the advice we deliver, not by size alone,” Gardner wrote via email. “After careful evaluation, partnering with NorthRock Partners stood out as the right step forward. NorthRock’s scale and resources provide powerful leverage to enhance the support we offer our clients, while we remain firmly committed to a client-first approach.”

Gardner said NorthRock’s Personal Office model fits with how his firm believes advice should be delivered, “coordinated, comprehensive, and built around the client’s whole financial life, not just one piece of it.”

Vantage was owned by five members of its leadership team before the transaction, according to its Form ADV. The firm’s founders were one of three pilot teams in Thrivent’s RIA channel in 2019, but then broke away to form Vantage in 2021.

Sammons is the majority owner of NorthRock, with some senior leaders holding minority stakes.

In February, three executives departed the firm: Robert Bradot, CFO, Emily Vennerstrom, COO, and Sean Berrigan, managing director and head of corporate development. Each of the three leaders had held less than 5% ownership in the firm.