M&A roundup: Marcum, Ascend, RKL and Hancock Askew expand

Marcum, a Top 25 Firm based in New York, has acquired Croskey Lanni PC, a firm based in the Detroit area with an office in Boca Raton, Florida, effective May 1.

The deal extends Marcum's footprint to Michigan and adds more expertise in tax, assurance, technology, financial advisory and accounting services across the Midwest. Croskey Lanni's Florida team will also beef up Marcum's operations in the Sunshine State. 

The deal adds six partners and over 50 associates from Croskey Lanni to Marcum. Michele Weber, office managing partner for Rochester, Michigan, and Steve Scheel, office managing partner for Novi, Michigan, and Boca Raton, Florida, will be joining Marcum in new leadership roles.

Croskey Lanni specializes in serving privately held businesses in the construction, real estate, material handling, professional services, trusts/estates and nonprofit sectors. The firm has also been involved in the charter school industry since its inception in the 1990s. Barclay Planning Group, owned by Croskey Lanni, offers pension administration services and will also join Marcum. 

"Our shared values and commitment to excellence drove the acquisition of Croskey Lanni," said Marcum chairman and CEO Jeffrey Weiner in a statement Monday. "Both firms focus on providing customized solutions for complex business challenges. Croskey Lanni's impressive track record of working closely with clients to enhance value complements Marcum's strategic vision, making this merger an ideal combination of our strengths."

Marcum ranked No. 13 on Accounting Today's 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $1.325 billion in annual revenue. The firm has roughly 550 partners and over 4,100 associates.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 95advisors LLC served as merger advisors for Croskey Lanni.

"Both Marcum and Croskey Lanni offer complementary business services with a shared passion and commitment to our teammates and clients," said David Croskey, founder and managing partner of Croskey Lanni, in a statement. "We both hold similar cultural values that encourage teamwork, innovation, and professional growth."

Last week, Marcum added Simon, Krowitz, Meadows & Bortnick, a firm based in Rockville, Maryland. In February, Marcum merged in Powers & Sullivan, a firm based in Wakefield, Massachusetts. In January, Marcum acquired Federman, Lally & Remis LLC, a firm in Farmington, Connecticut. Last June, Marcum added McCarthy & Co., a Regional Leader headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Last January, Marcum added Melanson, P.C., a Regional Leader firm in Merrimack, New Hampshire. The previous year, Marcum merged in E. Cohen and Co., CPAs, a Regional Leader firm in Rockville, Maryland, and completed a megamerger with another top firm, Friedman LLP. Other recent deals included a merger with RotenbergMeril CPAs, a firm in Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

Ascend, a firm platform backed by private equity firm Alpine Investors, is expanding into three more regions along the East Coast, adding firms in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast.

Blackman & Sloop of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and TSS of Lebanon, New Hampshire, become the newest partner firms to join Ascend. Vogel & Co. of Darien, Connecticut, and West Palm Beach, Florida, was also acquired by LMC, Ascend's partner firm in New York City, last week.

Financial terms of the deals, which took effect May 1, were not disclosed.

As often occurs in private equity deals with CPA firms,  Blackman & Sloop and TSS have adopted an alternative practice structure under which each has formed a new entity affiliated with Ascend that will provide tax, business advisory and other nonattest services. Attest services will be provided by separate, newly established, independently owned and licensed CPA firms.

"We are honored to be trusted with the lasting legacies of these firms, which combined have well over 100 years of history serving clients," said Ascend CEO David Wurtzbacher in a statement Friday. "Our culture, growth and talent models are game-changers for even the most successful firms."  

TSS, founded in 1986, has eight partners and 55 staff members. The firm provides advisory, tax consulting and compliance, employee benefit planning, and bookkeeping services to clients in the automotive, not-for-profit and other industries.

"Partnering with Ascend is the answer to all of the 'what if' questions we were asking ourselves as we looked for solutions to the limitations on our growth," said TSS Advisors CEO James Godfrey in a statement. "They are literally changing the very model that was limiting us by providing the resources we need to help us grow while enabling us to retain our identity and our culture."

Blackman & Sloop dates back to 1973 and offers advisory, tax and consulting services to individuals and closely held, privately owned businesses, with industry specializations in construction and nonprofit. The deal with Blackman & Sloop adds six partners and 45 team members to Ascend.

"Uniting with Ascend will propel us to a new era of client service and growth," said B&S Advisors LLC CEO Andrea Woodell Eason in a statement. "With a rich history spanning 50 years, we recognize the importance of evolving and expanding our capabilities to better serve our clients and nurture our team's growth."

Along with the new partner firm transactions, Ascend partner LMC in New York City merged Vogel & Co., an independent business management and tax advisory firm, into its family office practice.

"This partnership with Vogel & Co. gives us both additional capacity to address the increasing demand for family office services by combining our high-caliber talent teams and expanding the deep technical expertise we can offer our clients," said LMC Advisors CEO Lee Cohen, a member of Accounting Today's 2023 MP Elite.

"Partnering with LMC allows us to achieve our joint dream of building the premier family office firm offering clients tailored financial guidance and transparency, empowering families to preserve and grow their wealth and their legacies," said founder and CEO George Vogel. "Together, we will raise the standard for excellence."

LMC Advisors ranked No. 29 on Accounting Today's 2024 Regional Leaders list for the Mid-Atlantic, with $24.3 million in annual revenue, six partners and approximately 100 employees.

RKL eSolutions, a provider of ERP software and IT consulting based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and affiliated with the Top 75 firm RKL, has acquired Techware, a Minnesota-based Sage business partner, effective May 6. 

The acquisition will expand RKL's technology offerings into the construction industry and give its clients and prospects access to construction-specific software. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. RKL ranked No. 58 on Accounting Today's 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $126.23 million in annual revenue.

"With the construction and real estate development expertise of RKL LLP in the Mid-Atlantic region and the existing expertise on the RKL eSolutions team, we'll be able to expand the offerings available to former Techware clients as we continue to develop our construction portfolio," Joe Noll, president of RKL eSolutions, explained.

Former TechWare CEO Steve Pierce and his team will join RKL eSolutions. "I am excited to expand our offerings and deepen our bench," Pierce said in a statement. "The combined expertise will deliver complete lifecycle solutions to our clients from pre-construction to management and maintenance, built for the mobile workforce in the cloud."

The firm has 30 years of experience with Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300 Construction & Real Estate and Sage Intacct Construction. 

"With the construction and real estate development expertise of RKL LLP in the Mid-Atlantic region and the existing expertise on the RKL eSolutions team, we'll be able to expand the offerings available to former Techware clients as we continue to develop our construction portfolio," said RKL eSolutions president Joe Noll in a statement.

In January, RKL eSolutions acquired Wisconsin-based Chortek LLP's Sage practice, including Sage 100, Sage 50 and Sage BusinessWorks. In 2021, RKL LLP expanded its presence in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley region by adding Stoudt Associates, based in Allentown.