In the News

Southwest Securities could be sold to big shareholder

By Bruce Kelly
January 10, 2014 Investment News

SWS Group Inc., the parent company of Southwest Securities Inc., on Friday confirmed that its board had received a takeover bid from one of its biggest investors, Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Hilltop, which owns a bank, a mortgage lender and another financial services firm, First Southwest Co., already owns 24% of SWS common stock. Its offer is to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of SWS that it doesn’t already own for $7 a share, a 16% premium over the stock’s closing price on Thursday.

“Consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its financial and legal advisers, SWS Group’s board of directors will review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and its stockholders,” according to a statement on the SWS website.

Schorsch’s Realty Cap to Buy Summit Financial for $49 Million

November 18, 2013
by Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor

Broker-dealer experts have wondered which deal real estate investor Nicholas Schorsch and RCS Capital Corp. (RCAP) were likely to add to the “done” list in the final months of 2013, and Schorsch answered that question early Monday: Summit Financial Services Group (SMMF) for $49 million.

When asked why RCAP has grabbed up Summit and Investor’s Cap, “The reasons are fairly simple,” Schorsch said in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. “They’re both terrific companies, and both are public … which means there’s a lot of transparency around their performance and transactions … More important, they are a good fit for us,

FINRA Expands BrokerCheck to Include IARD Reports

November 12, 2013
By Melanie Waddell, ThinkAdvisor

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Tuesday that it has enhanced BrokerCheck to allow investors to now search both the BrokerCheck and Investment Adviser Registration Depository record of any securities professional or firm directly on the FINRA home page.

The BrokerCheck search results, FINRA says, are presented in a graphical timeline, illustrating a more user-friendly view of an industry professional’s employment status and history, industry registrations, and any reportable events such as customer disputes or disciplinary actions that may have occurred during his or her career.

FINRA says that it will also make the new BrokerCheck widget available to third-party websites, allowing visitors to those websites direct access to securities professionals’ or firms’ BrokerCheck or IAPD reports without having to visit the FINRA or Securities and Exchange Commission websites.