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Kestra’s debt is soaring. How will that affect its advisor recruiting?

16:01 17 March in In the News by rafferty

March 16, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   Kestra Holdings nearly doubled its debt and interest payments on those liabilities after adding a new private equity investor last year, a new ratings agency report found. The company’s debt load jumped 87% over 14 months to around $850 million, and the service payments alone will soar by the same percentage in 2023 — compared to the 12 months that ended in the third quarter — to $84 million, according to a March 8 “credit opinion” report by Moody’s Investors Service. At the end of last September, the Austin, Texas-based independent wealth management company received a minority investment of undisclosed size from private equity firm Oak Hill Capital buying Stone Point Capital’s stake and joining majority Kestra owner Warburg Pincus. As part of a December issuance of debt notes, Kestra...

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IBD LaSalle St. Sells Equity to Affiliated Advisors

15:14 08 March in In the News by rafferty

March 8, 2023 By Diana Britton, WealthManagement.com The privately owned independent broker/dealer sold a “meaningful amount” of equity in the firm to affiliated advisors at the end of January. LaSalle St., a midsize independent broker/dealer with two registered investment advisor platforms, launched an equity ownership program for its affiliated advisors. At the end of January, the privately owned company sold a “meaningful amount” of stock in the firm to a number of its advisors, said Mark Contey, LaSalle's senior vice president and head of business development. “We think the program drives a tremendous amount of value, not only for the firm but for the advisors,” Contey said. “It reaffirms our commitment to our business, and to the industry that we’re not a firm that’s going to consolidate or sell or bring in private equity. We’re committed to...

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Independent Cetera team fighting Avantax ‘trade secret’ lawsuit

14:42 06 March in In the News by rafferty

March 2, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   A simmering legal feud between two of the largest tax-focused wealth management firms underscores the shifting challenges for independent financial advisors who switch brokerages  — and the industry’s scrutiny of LinkedIn posts. A previously-unreported lawsuit filed by the parent firm of Avantax Wealth Management cited a LinkedIn post by Brian Stern, the co-founder of Farpointe Wealth Partners, a branch that moved from Avantax to Cetera, as evidence of a “conspiracy” to recruit Avantax advisors to follow Stern to rival brokerage Cetera Financial Specialists. The complaint, filed in December 2021, alleges that Stern, three other Farpointe executives and Cetera wrongfully used “confidential/trade secret” information as part of the effort. Court papers in the case cite a photo on Stern’s LinkedIn page depicting about 20 former Avantax advisors at Farpointe’s conference in San...