Hightower Signature Wealth adds $1.6B Boston-area firm

Hightower Advisors has moved another of its existing partner firms into its fully integrated national practice, announcing the latest addition to its fast-growing Hightower Signature Wealth arm.

In the deal announced Wednesday, Hightower is folding Boston Hill Advisors, a member of its network since 2023, into the HTSW model.

The East Coast transaction gives HTSW its latest addition of scale as the platform continues absorbing established advisory practices that want centralized operational support without giving up their client relationships.

Boston Hill Advisors, founded in 2006, oversees approximately $1.6 billion in assets under management. The firm serves individuals, families and institutions from offices in North Andover and Natick, Massachusetts, both of which will remain open. Its staff of 18, including 11 advisors, will now operate under the HTSW umbrella rather than as an independent affiliate.

Hightower Chief Executive Officer Larry Restieri framed the move as part of a deliberate strategy rather than an opportunistic one-off. "Boston Hill Advisors is a strong addition to HTSW, with a talented team, extensive investment experience and a longstanding commitment to clients," Restieri said in a statement on Wednesday. 

"As we continue to build HTSW as an integrated national practice, we are focused on bringing together teams that share our commitment to a highly personalized advisory approach," Restieri said.

“Our partnership with Hightower over the past three years has given us a clear view of what we can accomplish together,” added Michael F. Edwards, wealth advisor and managing director at Boston Hill Advisors. "Joining HTSW strengthens our ability to carry on our mission of helping clients navigate complexity with confidence and clarity.”

As part of the transition, Boston Hill's team gains access to Hightower's shared investment management, financial planning, operations, technology, compliance and marketing infrastructure, resources the company says are designed to free advisors to spend more time with clients rather than running back-office functions.

Hightower has also been investing in the technology layer that supports that model. This month, the firm tapped Dispatch as a data orchestration partner to unify client information across the Signature Wealth platform, a move aimed at making the integration process smoother for firms like Boston Hill.

The Boston Hill deal is the latest in a string of additions that has pushed HTSW's growth well beyond its original scope. Since launching, the platform has absorbed a mix of internal partner conversions and outside acquisitions, including its April integration of Lexington Wealth Management, another Massachusetts-based RIA with roughly $3.2 billion in assets under management.

That activity has only ramped up this past summer. In July, Hightower unveiled a trio of deals that brought roughly $5 billion into the fold. Last month marked more East Coast expansions for the Signature Wealth platform as it absorbed Stearns Financial Group, a $2.5 billion AUM practice in North Carolina and Valley Financial Group, a $275 million firm in Pennsylvania.

Hightower has indicated that it expects the Signature Wealth platform  to reach $40 billion to $50 billion in assets by the end of the year. With the latest Massachusetts move, the HTSW platform is able to report more than $40 billion in AUM as of June 30, with more than 130 advisors and over 30 locations across the US.