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Advisor Group branch manager prevails in messy recruiting dispute

15:01 10 February in In the News by rafferty

February 8, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   A FINRA arbitration case showing the tensions between independent branches about recruiting moves and M&A deals ended in a victory for one of the largest enterprises at Advisor Group.   In a Jan. 23 ruling by an Oklahoma City-based panel, arbitrators rejected Cambridge Investment Research financial advisor Alan P. Niemann’s demand for $1.2 million in compensatory damages for unjust enrichment and violations of company recruiting rules by Royal Alliance Associates branch manager Brian B. Heapps. The dispute involved Niemann’s claim that Heapps owed him compensation for three advisors who went to Heapps’ branch, Innovative Financial Group.   Nieman and Heaps both headed offices of supervisory jurisdiction for Royal Alliance when Niemann decided to join Cambridge in 2020. Upon his exit, Niemann had hoped that advisors who retained his...

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Securian and Cetera generated $2.93 billion in combined annual revenue in 2021

15:45 03 February in In the News by rafferty

February 1, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   The largest acquisition so far this year in wealth management comes with offers of retention payments to 1,000 Securian financial advisors, who are debating whether or not to join their buyer, Cetera. In an interview with Financial Planning one week after Cetera Financial Group’s Jan. 25 agreement to acquire the retail wealth business of Securian Financial Group, Cetera CEO Adam Antoniades confirmed that private equity-backed Cetera will provide financial incentives for “transition assistance” to advisors whose brokerage will change when the deal closes later this year. The parties didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal. Antoniades declined to say how much financial assistance Cetera will extend for the incoming practices. He compared the deal to Cetera’s 2021 acquisition of certain assets of Voya Financial Advisors. Cetera is pledging to...

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Federal proposal to ban noncompete clauses could affect RIA M&A

15:47 11 January in In the News by rafferty

January 9, 2023 By Mark Schoeff Jr., Investment News If advisors who have less than a certain ownership threshold are free to leave an acquired firm, it could give buyers pause.   A federal ban on contract clauses that bind workers to employers could affect how acquisitions of investment advisory firms are structured and influence financial advisor moves between firms. Last Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission released a rule proposal that would prohibit employers from using noncompete agreements that prohibit employees from joining rival companies. The agency said noncompetes are an “often exploitative practice” that suppresses wages and hinders innovation. The proposal follows a Biden administration executive order in July 2021 that outlined 72 initiatives across dozens of federal agencies designed to promote economic competition. An overview of the proposal says that one in five U.S. workers — or about 30 million people...

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The Threat to LBO Private Equity-Backed IBD’s

14:06 16 December in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

December 13, 2022 By Jon Henschen, WealthManagement.com   Managers of debt-heavy IBDs backed by LBO private equity will need all the skills they can muster to thread the needle of falling revenues and desired growth. Exit strategies may have to wait. While readily working with standard private equity firms focused on growth capital, we made the decision over a year ago to not work with those private investment firms that rely on high levels of debt on the part of portfolio companies to goose returns—namely, leveraged buyout private equity fund managers. In anticipation of difficult markets, we focused on lower debt-to-net capital ratios, while avoiding broker/dealers whose ratios started to push to four times or higher. Similar issues arise with leveraged buyout funds. Debt-to-equity ratios of LBO-backed firms can run up to two times higher than...