M&A roundup: KSM, Eide Bailly, Forvis and Avantax expand

May 20, 2024 3:27 PM

Katz, Sapper & Miller is adding Cassady Schiller; Eide Bailly merged in Edward White & Co.; Forvis plans to acquire ConTech360; and Avantax acquired GA Investment Management.

Katz, Sapper & Miller add Cassady Schiller

Courtesy of Katz, Sapper & Miller

Katz, Sapper & Miller, a Top 50 Firm based in Indianapolis, is expanding into Ohio by adding Cassady Schiller, one of the biggest firms in Cincinnati, effective May 31.

Cassady Schiller offers tax and accounting services to high-net-worth individuals and families, and businesses in the manufacturing and distribution, hospitality, and services industries. It also offers real estate expertise to augment KSM's existing real estate practice. Cassady Schiller's wealth management practice isn't part of the deal as KSM doesn't offer wealth management services and will continue as a separate firm under the Cassady Schiller name.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. KSM's 2023 revenue was $144,875,000 and Cassady Schiller's was $13,114,000, not including revenue from the wealth management practice, which is not joining KSM. KSM ranked No. 49 on Accounting Today's 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms.

"In Cassady Schiller, we have found a team of talented professionals whose deep commitments to their people, their clients and their community align very closely with ours," said KSM CEO and president Tim Cook in a statement Monday. "We couldn't ask for a better cultural fit."

KSM currently has 564 employees, including 57 partners. The Cassady Schiller deal will add 67 employees and eight partners to KSM, including managing partner Mike Clark and chief operating officer Heather Bucher, who will serve as co-managing partners of KSM's new Cincinnati office.

"Joining KSM is a perfect fit for Cassady Schiller," said Clark in a statement. "We anticipate great benefits for our clients, including a broader range of services and resources, as well as diverse opportunities for our people to continue to grow their careers. We're excited for our next chapter."

Cassady Schiller will assume the KSM brand in the months ahead as it becomes fully integrated as the firm's Cincinnati regional office.

"Since our founding in 1990, Cassady Schiller has exceeded the expectations of our clients, actively engaged with our community, and fostered a close-knit workplace in which people come first. We look forward to many years of the same — and much more — with KSM," Bucher stated.

Katz, Sapper & Miller acquired Noble Consulting Services, an insurance regulatory consulting firm in Indianapolis in 2021, and last year Noble acquired Eide Bailly's insurance regulatory practice. In 2019, KSM acquired Caskey & Daily, an Indianapolis-based tax and accounting firm.

Eide Bailly merges in Edward White & Co.

Eide Bailly, a Top 25 Firm formerly based in Fargo, North Dakota, is adding Edward White & Co. LLP, based in Woodland Hills, California, effective June 1.

Edward White has been offering tax and consulting services to multinational clients since 1976.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Eide Bailly ranked No. 20 on Accounting Today's 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $616.5 million in annual revenue, 365 partners and approximately 3,700 staff members.

"Edward White & Co., LLP has achieved great success and earned high respect," said Eide Bailly managing partner and CEO Jeremy Hauk in a statement Friday. "We admire the work his firm has done, and we are eager to combine our strengths. This union will increase our capacity to provide specialty services to diverse clients."

Eide Bailly offers consulting, accounting, tax and business advisory services,

"We are delighted to join forces with Eide Bailly LLP," stated senior partner Edward White. "Eide Bailly is a high-quality firm with an attention to excellence and a breadth of services that will help expand our clients' abilities."

Earlier this month, Eide Bailly announced it was adding Apple Growth Partners, with offices in Akron, Cleveland and Canton, Ohio; Schaumburg, Illinois; and Charlotte, North Carolina, effective June 24. Last year, Eide Bailly added Secore & Niedzialek in Phoenix, Raimondo Pettit Group in Southern California, Bessolo Haworth in California and Washington State, Spectrum Health Partners in Franklin, Tennessee, and King & Oliason in Seattle.

Forvis to acquire ConTech360

The Forvis building in Springfield, Missouri

Courtesy of Forvis

Forvis, a Top 10 Firm, said Monday it plans to bolster its construction industry practice through an asset acquisition of ConTech360, a provider of construction technology services based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

ConTech360's two managing partners, Jim Wagner and Steve Maddox, will join Forvis as managing directors. The deal is expected to close in the fall.

Forvis also announced Monday that it has joined the Trimble Authorized Business Development Partner program.

Forvis ranked No. 9 on Accounting Today's 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $1.686 billion in annual revenue, over 500 partners and approximately 6,000 employees.

Forvis was created in 2022 through the merger of BKD and Dixon Hughes Goodman. Last year, it announced it's acquiring the assets of the software technology and consulting company Thales Consulting, a Marquette, Michigan-based firm that provides financial reporting software for local governments. In 2022, Forvis acquired ProBank Austin, a firm that provides education, loan review, regulatory compliance, asset/liability and interest rate risk management, and capital advisory services to financial institutions.

Avantax acquires GA Investment Management

Avantax, a Dallas-based tax-focused financial planning and wealth management firm, has acquired GA Investment Management, a wealth management firm based in Seven Fields, Pennsylvania with satellite offices in Pittsburgh.

The deal adds $400 million in client assets under management and 10 employees to Avantax. They have become investment advisor representatives of Avantax Planning Partners through the employee-based model of Avantax. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, including revenue figures. Avantax has more than 3,000 financial professionals as of Dec. 31, 2023.

The three partners who lead GA — Stephen Gierl, Gary Augustine and Tim Augustine — went through a lengthy nationwide search process as part of their succession and chose Avantax for several reasons, including Avantax's deep network of tax and accounting firm affiliates.

"We attended an Avantax Planning Partners event where we talked with a number of financial planning consultants and affiliated CPAs, and everyone was very enthusiastic about the relationship," Gierl said in a statement last week. "That was really big for us."

"Several firms looked good to us, but what set Avantax apart was its incredible network of accounting firms, and its distinct approach of putting tax at the center of financial planning just like we do at GA, and that's why we chose Avantax," he noted.

Earlier this month, Avantax acquired the wealth management business of Houston-based Integrated Tax & Wealth Strategies, one of Avantax's largest affiliates, with $760 million in total client assets.

The financial planning firm Cetera acquired Avantax for approximately $1.2 billion last September. Avantax was formerly known as Blucora, which rebranded as Avantax after Blucora sold off its TaxAct tax preparation software to a private equity firm in 2022 to focus instead on its Avantax financial planning and wealth management business. Blucora created Avantax Wealth Management in 2019 after acquiring HD Vest and 1st Global, two financial planning firms that partnered with CPA firms around the country to offer wealth management services, and combining them under the Avantax name.