EP Wealth Lands $900M Silicon Valley RIA

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EP Wealth, an acquisitive registered concern advisor based successful Torrance, Calif., has acquired Opes Wealth Management, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based steadfast with implicit $900 cardinal successful assets nether management.

This represents EP's 5th woody of 2026, bringing its full Bay Area beingness to astir $6 cardinal successful assets.

Opes was founded successful 2005 arsenic Opes Advisors to bring unneurotic existent property and wealthiness absorption expertise nether a azygous firm. Mark Duvall was 1 of the founders. Flagstar Bancorp acquired that entity successful 2017. Duvall past registered Opes Wealth Management and present runs the firm, alongside Erin Whalen, who besides came retired of Opes Advisors.

The firm's 8 squad members volition articulation EP Wealth, with Duvall and Whalen serving arsenic determination directors.

Kyle Miller, main M&A concern serviceman astatine EP Wealth, said his steadfast was impressed with the prime of the Opes team, its planning-first approach, and way grounds of integrated growth.

"The extent of what they're doing some successful presumption of with executives successful the exertion assemblage and with individuals who person important existent property vulnerability connected their idiosyncratic equilibrium sheet—which, arsenic you know, that geography is significant—is truly unique, and we deliberation it'll beryllium additive to what we're doing astatine EP," Miller said.

Opes was looking for a level to assistance them grow, and EP tin supply them with household bureau services and readying capabilities. The RIA has immoderate 45 professionals doing thing but planning.

"The request for EP's household bureau suite of services is astatine an all-time high," Miller said. "The magnitude of folks looking for what EP's already built out—integrated, in-house tax, trust, readying and property astatine scale—is incredible."

Terms of the woody were not disclosed. Alaris Acquisitions advised Opes connected the transaction.

This follows past week's quality that EP Wealth launched a cash-based inducement programme for non-shareholder employees. The Shared Prosperity Program is meant to align economical incentives with each employees who aren't existent oregon prospective shareholders today.

"We privation to marque definite that everyone who's benefiting the lawsuit acquisition is besides benefiting from the maturation of EP," Miller said. "We wanted to supply an further economical inducement for the adjacent iteration of EP's growth."

Those employees volition present enactment successful the upside of the firm's stock terms done a currency payout tied to a percent of their existent wage and based connected aboriginal growth.