Carlyle-backed MAI buys two RIAs and enters Atlanta

MAI Capital Management announced two acquisitions Tuesday. Together they add $1.04 billion in client assets, put the Cleveland RIA into Atlanta for the first time, and expand its California presence. The deals arrive about two months after Carlyle Group took a majority stake in MAI.

OG Private Wealth, a fee-only firm run by brothers Ryan and Mike O'Donnell, brings about $551 million in client assets. The firm counts more than 300 households. Its offices sit in Chico and Hermosa Beach, Calif.; the brothers are Merrill Lynch alumni. Waypoint Wealth Counsel adds roughly $490 million in client assets. It represents more than 100 households in Atlanta. Brad McGrew and Matthew Woods founded Waypoint in 2014. They built two proprietary private investment funds around alternatives for affluent and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Carlyle's June transaction converted a minority stake held through Galway Holdings into a majority position with a board seat. It valued MAI at more than $2.8 billion and sent Galway's backers, Harvest Partners and Oak Hill Capital, to the exits. WealthManagement.com first reported the acquisitions.

MAI comes to these deals with size. Chairman and CEO Rick Buoncore has grown the firm to $72.6 billion in client assets. That figure jumped in 2025, when MAI acquired Evoke Advisors. Evoke was then a $27 billion practice serving upper high-net-worth clients. When the Carlyle deal was announced, Buoncore said the new capital would finance service expansion, more acquisitions, and training programs. Buoncore said MAI University, one such program, has 100 employees enrolled. The firm employs 700.

The sellers explain themselves in familiar terms. OG's founders said joining MAI brings 'robust institutional investment capabilities, family office resources and specialized expertise.' Matthew Woods said the Waypoint deal pairs a decade of Atlanta relationships with the resources of a national firm.

The two purchases show how a private-equity-backed platform puts capital to work after a recapitalization. A combined $1 billion is less than 2% of MAI's assets, yet it buys a first position in a contested Southeast market and deepens an existing one in California. Waypoint brings MAI into Atlanta, along with two private funds most local rivals cannot match. The O'Donnell brothers fit the breakaway profile common to independent sellers. Purchase prices were not disclosed. MAI has not said whether Carlyle financed or sourced the deals.

The valuation explains the pace. Carlyle valued MAI at $2.8 billion. The firm manages $72.6 billion in client assets. The price is roughly 3.9% of that. The price assumes recurring fee revenue can grow faster than costs. Smaller acquisitions like these, likely bought at lower valuations, are how that premium gets paid down. Rival aggregators will see the pattern: Carlyle-backed platforms are moving from scale-building to market-by-market acquisition. For advisors weighing an offer, MAI's pitch now has specifics: an Atlanta alternatives shop, California breakaways, and a national platform to hold them. The next deal will be watched for integration strain, not just for the assets it adds.