The acquisition was not something that Bartlett or the leadership team at PWL initially sought out. They were approached by OneDigital and initially, Bartlett explains, they were simply too busy serving their clients to give the offer serious thought. Through organic growth and investment in social channels, PWL had grown to $5.5 billion in AUA across 2,300 Canadian households. That changed, however, when the PWL leaders travelled to Atlanta to meet their OneDigital counterparts.
Bartlett says that she and her team found in OneDigital a near-total alignment in values. They saw similar approaches to work and client service, despite some of the differences in business lines. They also saw areas of complementary strength. OneDigital maintains a significant technology team which Bartlett says will help PWL stay ahead of tech developments. Moreover, they offer an injection of capital which PWL can use to drive growth through the acquisition of advisory teams and firms.
While OneDigital maintains a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) business in the United States, Bartlett notes that there are no plans to build a similar model at PWL. Regulatory hurdles are one factor but she emphasizes the commitment by OneDigital to maintain independence in PWL’s operations. In the context of other firm acquisitions by investment fund manufacturers or conglomerates with manufacturing subsidiaries, she stresses that any compromise to PWL’s independence would have been a non-starter.
“If they were a product manufacturer, it would have stopped dead right there, because that crosses our line of independence,” Bartlett says. “We do not want to be part of an organization where they’re creating, manufacturing their own product and selling that through to clients.”
PWL’s advisors responded to the news of the acquisition with a degree of surprise, followed by excitement as the firm explained the nature of the deal, according to Bartlett. The team is relatively young and the firm is growing, which OneDigital emphasized in their acquisition. The response, therefore, has been a focus on where PWL might find growth in future.
