How Advisor Group’s deal for Signator could reshape the IBD space
June 25, 2018 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning Advisor Group’s second acquisition of the year carries the potential to make it bigger than any other independent broker-dealer network, while pushing its largest subsidiary into the top 10 firms in the space. Some major questions loom over the success of the deal, though. The private equity-backed network unveiled its plans on June 21 to buy Signator Investors from the insurance giant John Hancock and fold it into the largest Advisor Group subsidiary IBD, Royal Alliance Associates. Neither party disclosed the terms of the deal, which is a full stock-purchase agreement expected to close in the fourth quarter. “We’ve spent a great deal of time building our company internally,” Advisor Group CEO Jamie Price says. “Acquisitions come along when they come along, and we pass on more...