In the News

Balancing Act

00:00 01 January in In the News by rafferty

by Kathleen M. McBride and featured in Investment Advisor January, 2006: What a remarkable time these last few years have been for independent broker/dealers.The markets have recovered from a bubble, a crash, a grinding bear market, investment industry scandals, and corporate debacles. An aging population has realized that big corporate—or public—pension plans are, in many cases, gone or at least eviscerated, and that they generally are on their own, saving and investing for a long retirement. Tremendous wealth has been created. Scads of investors have realized that they want need—advice about managing their money, whether from a local independent advisor or a representative of a wirehouse, bank, or insurance company. Many of the challenges broker/dealers face are client-driven. Even many of the regulatory issues are, in a roundabout way, the result of client...

Hellman & Friedman – Texas Pacific Agree to Buy LPL

00:00 01 October in In the News by rafferty

by Brett Cole and featured in Bloomberg News October, 2005: Buyout firms Hellman & Friedman LLC and Texas Pacific Group agreed to buy LPL Financial Services, an independent brokerage with 6,200 financial advisers, in a transaction that values LPL at $2.5 billion. Hellman & Friedman, based in San Francisco, and Fort Worth, Texas-based LPL said today in a statement. Founders and employees will retain a 40 percent stake in the company, which has 3,000 branches. The LPL model has a lot of appeal to brokers and allows them to be better advisers,’’ Texas Pacific partner Richard Schifter said in an interview today. LPL, which has its headquarters in Boston and San Diego,has bolstered its annual revenue by about 20 percent a year since 1991 to $1.1 billion last year as individuals have increasingly sought...

Independent Broker/Dealers are Looking Good to Insurers

00:00 01 October in In the News by rafferty

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News October, 2005: New York - Consolidation is picking up among independent-contractor broker-dealers, with three insurance companies again leading the charge to buy. Last Monday, Lincoln National Corp. of Philadelphia said that it will acquire Jefferson-Pilot Corp. of Greensboro, N.C., for $7.5 billion in cash and stock. Each company has significant independent-contractor-broker-dealer businesses. Combined, the two broker-dealers will be among the largest independent broker-dealers in the industry. Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. of Fort Wayne, Ind., posted $383.6 million in gross revenue in2004, and Jefferson Pilot Securities Corp. of Concord, N.H., had $137.3 million in gross revenue.Combined, the firm will have 4,680 affiliated registered representatives, with Robert W. Dineen in charge of the broker-dealer operation. David Booth, current CEO of Jefferson Pilot Securities, was leftoff an organizational...