Evoke Advisors, a Century City-based registered investment adviser firm with $27 billion in assets under management, will join forces with the Cleveland-based advisory firm MAI Capital Management.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Together, the two firms will manage $60 billion across more than 30 offices in the U.S., according to a joint announcement. The firms, which will keep their nameplates, will merge their infrastructures and shared resources across technology, compliance, marketing and investment operations, the companies said.

David Hou, co-founder and managing partner at Evoke, said he expects the deal to help bolster the growth of his firm.

“After an in-depth search process, we decided that joining forces with MAI gives our team the scale and resources to deepen our offerings while preserving the vision that brought us to this point,” Hou said in a statement. “The partnership provides both firms with the opportunity to enhance our abilities to best serve clients and enable the long-term success of the firms we built.”

‘Strategic partnership’

Rick Buoncore, chairman and chief executive officer of MAI, echoed that sentiment and said “this strategic partnership cements MAI as a destination firm by leveraging Evoke’s distinguished team, along with our own people and differentiators, resulting in a distinct client experience. It is about enhancing capabilities and providing the highest level of service possible for our clients.”

The announcement of the partnership falls in line with another deal Evoke took on last year. In October, Evoke acquired Crescent Bay Advisors, a multi-office and financial advisory firm based in Corona Del Mar in Orange County.

Evoke started business in 2019 when Hou and his fellow co-founder Mark Sear left their jobs at First Republic Bank.

Since its founding, Evoke developed its assets under management from $4.75 billion in 2019 to close to $26 billion in two years in 2022, according to a 2022 interview with Hou, published in the newsletter Wealth Solutions Report.

The firm’s growth has been fueled by the business it developed, as well as through mergers with other firms. In 2020, it merged with Advanced Research Investment Solutions; and in that same year, a team from Bel Air Investment Advisors joined Evoke.