Client assets at Focus Financial Partners have swelled by $450 million, after four partner firms finalized acquisitions or made senior hires. 

At the start of December, LLBH Private Wealth Management, a Westport, CT, independent RIA with some $1 billion in client assets, appointed Haley Rockwell as a managing director. Rockwell joined LLBH as part of an agreement with Chronogram, the private wealth management firm, where she managed $110 million in client assets and served as its owner and chief executive. At LLBH, she is focused on strengthening its multi-family office offering and expanding resources for ultra high net worth clients.

JFS Wealth Advisors ended 2012 with the acquisition of Pittsburgh, PA-based HL Zeve Associates, a wealth advisory firm with $325 million in AuM. The move boosted JFS Wealth’s client AuM to over $1.2 billion. As part of the deal, Harvey Zeve, founder and chief executive of HL Zeve, joined JFS Wealth as a consultant, while HL Zeve president, Steve Lee, remains as managing principal.

Meanwhile, this month Richmond, VA-based CapGroup Advisors took on Jeremy Kuhlen as managing director. Kuhlen co-founded Mentor Wealth Management, a Richmond-based firm with approximately $35 million in assets. Under the agreement, CapGroup will merge Mentor’s clients into its private client practice.  

Lastly, the Buckingham Family of Financial Services appointed wealth advisor, author and blogger Dan Solin as a wealth advisor at Buckingham Asset Management, as well as director of investor advocacy at BAM Alliance, a network of some 130 independent wealth management firms. Solin was previously a senior vice president at Index Fund Advisors, an Irvine, CA-based RIA.

Focus Financial Partners kicked off the new year by adding Seattle-based RIA Merriman to its network, in a move adding over $1.5 billion client assets and bringing Focus client assets to nearly $60 billion. Rudy Adolf, founder and chief executive of Focus, said the firm had a strong 2012 due to the addition of new firms, sub-acquisitions and hires, as well as growth from existing firms. “We expect favorable trends to support continued growth in 2013,” he said at the time. 

Focus Financial Partners has about 800 employees, including over 100 partners.