The $2 billion AUM Stafford Schauer Private Wealth Team joins Arax's Ashton Thomas Private Wealth from Deutsche Bank. : Arax Investment Partners, a wealth management platform backed by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, has acquired Excel Securities & Associates, a Rochester, N.Y.-based independent broker/dealer and RIA with $1 billion in client assets. The firm will now operate as Ashton Thomas Securities, borrowing the name from an RIA Arax acquired last year, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In conjunction with the acquisition, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth added a $2 billion AUM team from Alex.