St. George-based Vantage Advisors, a financial planning and tax advisory firm, has been acquired by EP Wealth Advisors of Torrance, California. The acquisition expands EP Wealth’s existing footprint in Utah to three locations, joining Salt Lake City and Logan.
Vantage Advisors specializes in holistic financial planning and tax preparation for entrepreneurs, executives and professionals. Gregory Kemp, Vantage founding member and CEO, will assume the role of consultant at EP Wealth and President Neal Marchant will become senior vice president. Four additional Vantage staff members will join EP Wealth.
“At Vantage Advisors, our main priority is working with and delivering results for our clients,” said Kemp. “Aligning with EP Wealth allows us to gain access to expanded services and resources that will help us reach new heights.”
“Vantage Advisors’ client-centric approach emulates the core values at EP Wealth,” said Patrick Goshtigian, CEO of EP Wealth. “Their expertise in holistic tax and financial planning complements our work with clients. We are excited to partner with them as we expand our presence to Southern Utah.”
“EP Wealth is committed to providing comprehensive services and robust solutions for its clients,” said Marchant. “We will be able to leverage their in-house resources and tools to optimize our impact for clients and help them meet their planning goals.”
This acquisition marks EP Wealth’s 24th in a five-year period of strategic growth for the firm. Since taking a minority investment from Wealth Partners Capital Group of Palm Beach, Florida, in July 2017, EP Wealth has partnered with firms in California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Texas and Utah. The acquisition of Vantage Advisors closed on April 29, and will increase EP Wealth’s assets under management by $349 million. Financial and legal terms of the deal were not disclosed.