Berger Financial accepts Investcorp majority investment

Berger Financial Group, a Plymouth, Minnesota-based registered investment adviser with $2.95 billion in assets under management, sold a majority stake to global manager Investcorp. The firm will remain about 35% employee-owned after employees on average rolled roughly half of their equity into the new ownership structure. Berger became fully employee-owned in 2018.

Founded in 1981, Berger operates from 10 offices across five states — Minnesota, Illinois, Vermont, Arizona and Maine. The company plans to expand to 10 states and 25 offices. Investcorp’s capital will fund geographic growth, new hires and acquisitions.

Berger targets the mass affluent market and does not impose an asset minimum. Clients have about $750,000 in investable assets on average. Nick Asmus, Berger’s chief executive, noted, “We believe the mass affluent space is underserved. In our industry, you see a lot of times the bigger a firm gets, the bigger their minimum gets.”

Investcorp’s North America private equity team, which focuses on mid-market services companies, made its first purchase of a registered investment adviser with the Berger deal. Vitali Bourchtein, a managing director on the team, said Investcorp will concentrate on helping Berger scale and may add more groups to the platform, likely through broker intermediaries.

Berger currently employs about 100 people and expects to grow to as many as 250, planning hires for advisors, entry-level staff, C-suite executives and business development roles focused on mergers and acquisitions. Investcorp was introduced to Berger by the firm’s investment banking advisor and cited client retention, operating model and service approach as reasons for the investment.

Berger pursued a partner for roughly two years and set a firm limit on how much ownership it would sell, declining offers for full or near-full exits. Preserving employee benefits and workplace flexibility was a priority when selecting an investor; Asmus emphasized the need for support without major changes and referenced Berger’s motto, “Work hard. Family first.”