M&A roundup: KSM, Herbein, Armanino and Avalara expand

Details: Katz, Sapper & Miller, a Top 100 Firm based in Indianapolis, has bought Noble Consulting Services Inc., an insurance regulatory consulting firm headquartered in the same city.

Noble specializes in financial risk examinations and related services on behalf of insurance regulators. The deal will enable KSM to expand its scope of services. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. KSM ranked No. 62 on Accounting Today’s 2021 list of the Top 100 Firms. The firm earned $81,779,100 in revenue in 2020. KSM currently has 391 employees, both full-time and part-time employees, including 45 partners. Noble employs 41 people, including its CEO Mike Dinius, who was sole owner of the firm prior to the acquisition.

Noble dates back to 1997 and will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of KSM, while maintaining its name and corporate office in downtown Indianapolis. Dinius will continue to be CEO of Noble.

“As the leader of Noble for the past six years, I’m incredibly proud of our team and all that we’ve accomplished together,” Dinius said in a statement Monday. “I’m also very excited for our next chapter with KSM, a firm that exemplifies the employee-focused culture and values that are so integral to Noble — teamwork, client service, and excellence.”

Noble provides various services to insurance regulators, including financial risk examinations; market conduct examinations; reinsurance contract reviews; regulatory supervision, rehabilitation and liquidation services; investment reviews; cybersecurity reviews; and review of corporate governance, enterprise risk management, and own risk and solvency assessments.

“For nearly 25 years, Noble has been highly regarded within the insurance regulatory community as a trusted advisor of the utmost integrity, and we’re proud to welcome Noble’s dedicated professionals into the KSM family,” said KSM CEO and president Tim Cook in a statement. “While Noble will continue to operate as a distinct and separate business, there are meaningful synergies between KSM and Noble that will enable both groups to develop new business, share resources, and create new opportunities for employees. We look forward to continuing to grow together.”

KSM has been expanding its health care and government consulting services in the past two years. The firm expanded its health care team in 2019 with the acquisition of Caskey & Daily, P.C., an Indianapolis-based tax and accounting firm. The firm also hired executive-level personnel to oversee its health care consulting practice last year and launched a new government consulting practice earlier this year.

Details: Herbein + Co. Inc., a Regional Leader based in Reading, Pennsylvania, has acquired Tubiello-Harr & Associates LLC, a CPA firm in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, effective Oct. 1.

The deal is part of Herbein’s growth plan to strengthen its presence in the Lehigh Valley. Herbein was recently named one of the Lehigh Valley’s 2021 Fastest Growing Companies, which comes on the heels of a merger in July with Mosteller & Associates in Reading.

Tubiello-Harr & Associates was founded in 2011. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Herbein announced that all four team members from Tubiello-Harr’s firm will join Herbein and continue practicing from their current location. Managing partner Loretta Tubiello-Harr will become a senior consultant at Herbein, and senior manager Kim Vandergrift will join Herbein as a partner.

Herbein ranked No. 23 on Accounting Today’s 2021 Regional Leaders list for the Mid-Atlantic region, with $35.89 million in annual revenue. The firm now has 23 partners and 219 employees.

Herbein and its financial outsourcing solutions division are also located in the area, and Herbein managing partner David Stonesifer said the firm has wanted to expand its presence in the region for some time.

“We respect the success of Tubiello-Harr & Associates LLC, and for our team, this is a particularly exciting transaction,” Stonesifer said in a statement Monday. “Our firms share a commitment to building long-term client relationships, and we are equally focused on ensuring our clients succeed with confidence. As Greater Lehigh Valley small and midsized businesses navigate the post-pandemic period, we are very pleased that our firm will have such a strong new team in the area.”

The strategy behind the merger is two-fold, according to Loretta Tubiello-Harr. “As our business clients grow, they require comprehensive support that we can leverage from our combination with Herbein,” she said in a statement. “Our individual clients will benefit from Herbein’s additional depth in areas such as estates, retirement, education, income tax, trusts, investments and other areas of personal finance. Another important aspect of this merger is to provide a succession plan for our clients. Kim Vandergrift and I plan to maintain our client relationships, and this transaction assures continued exceptional client service for all our clients into the foreseeable future.”

Details: Armanino LLP, a Top 25 Firm based in San Ramon, California, said Monday it will be adding the partners and staff of Holtzman Partners, an accounting firm in Austin, Texas, effective Jan. 1, 2022.

The deal will add a second office in Austin for Armanino, which already has a location on Congress Avenue.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Armanino ranked No. 21 on Accounting Today’s 2021 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $359 million in annual revenue. The firm has approximately 130 partners and 1,400 employees.

“It’s no secret that Austin is one of the most innovative and exciting cities in the country, if not the world,” said CEO Matt Armanino in a statement. “We’ve been working with clients in the region for many years and recently opened a local office downtown. Adding Holtzman is the natural next step of our investment in the Austin community given its entrepreneurial vision, commitment to innovation and its values when it comes to high-touch client service and its people-first culture.”

Holtzman clients will get access to an expanded set of accounting and consulting services, including international tax, state and local tax, transfer pricing, R&D tax credits, transaction advisory, provision, estate and trust, partnerships and qualified business income.

“We have had a front-row seat to Austin’s booming technology industry and recognized the need to deliver a 360-degree solution set as local startups blossom into national players,” said Chris Perkins, managing partner at Holtzman, in a statement. “As a firm focused on the future and what clients need both today and tomorrow, we see the advantage Armanino brings to our current clients and the Austin business community. We are excited to bring together Silicon Valley and Silicon Hills and create more opportunity for our clients and our professionals.”

Last month, Armanino announced that it would be merging in Torrance, California-based Brigante, Cameron, Watters & Strong LLP, effective Nov. 1. In August, Armanino merged in St. Louis-based Top 100 Firm Brown Smith Wallace.