Creative Planning acquires TrueWealth in Atlanta

Creative Planning has added another company to its list of acquisitions, this time buying TrueWealth, a Registered Investment Advisory firm in Atlanta, Ga.

The buy adds $1.6 billion in assets to Overland Park-based Creative Planning, who has acquired three different companies since mid-June, including TrueWealth.

For years Creative Planning made the majority of their growth organically, raising the question as to if these recent acquisitions represent a fundamental shift in the company’s growth strategies.

“We continue to focus on organic growth and believe next year will be our best in terms of organic growth alone,” Peter Mallouk, CEO of Creative Planning, said in an email response to Ingram’s. “We are supplementing our organic growth with key acquisitions in major markets. We already have a presence in all of these markets, but the acquisitions allow us to localize our scale faster.”

Mallouk touched on consolidation in the sector, saying certain costs have led to what he believes will continue a consolidation trend.

“The industry is going through major consolidation. Technology, personnel and regulatory costs are requiring firms to seek out more and more efficiencies that can only be achieved via scale,” Mallouk said. “This year should see unprecedented consolidation for those reasons, and I expect it to continue for the next few years.”