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Stifel CEO wants better results from Sterne Agee’s independent B-D business

16:59 07 November in In the News by rafferty

November 6, 2015 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News Ron Kruszewski says margins were lower in the wealth management group because of Sterne Agee independent advisers Stifel Financial Corp. completed its acquisition of regional brokerage firm Sterne Agee Group Inc. in June, and now Stifel's CEO and co-chairman Ron Kruszewski is looking for better performance out of the independent brokerage side of the business. He made that clear in a conference call with analysts Wednesday to review the firm's third-quarter earnings. When discussing Stifel's global wealth management group, he said: “The margins were lower than last year due to the independent contractors from Sterne Agee, who operate at lower margins than our traditional wealth management business.” Later in the call, in response to an analyst's question, he added: “I think overall, and I think in the...

Will Cetera Be Sold in a Fire Sale?

02:40 21 October in In the News by rafferty

October 20, 2015 By Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor Industry experts debate what's behind the reports that RCAP might sell Cetera for as little as $700 million The news regarding RCS Capital (RCAP), owner of the Cetera Financial Group of independent broker-dealers, is not getting better. The question that many industry watchers have is: How much worse will it get? It shares trade near $1.15, down sharply from about $4.25 in early August and way off its two-year high of about $39.50. The firm’s market capitalization stands at under $100 million. While Bloomberg News reported on Monday that RCAP might sell Cetera for as little as $700 million, though, an equity analyst following the company says that figure is simply too low. At least one industry expert, however, disagrees with that view. “A 10/19 Bloomberg article indicated RCAP was looking...

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Indie HD Vest Bought by Blucora, Maker of TaxACT, for $580M

23:48 14 October in In the News by rafferty

October 14, 2015 By Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor   The tax-software firm hopes to boost business by aligning with the indie broker-dealer, which has about 4,500 reps HD Vest, which has about 4,500 affiliated independent-contractor advisors, is being sold to Blucora (BCOR), the company formerly called InfoSpace and maker of the TaxACT tax-preparation software, for about $580 million. The deal is expected to close either late this year or early next year. For the past four years, HD Vest has been owned by an private equity investor group led by Parthenon Capital Partners; the group includes Lovell Minnick Partners and Fisher Lynch. “Part of the reason they wanted to partner with HD has to do with unlocking the value of their 5.5 million customers who do tax returns with TaxACT each year,” said HD Vest President and...