LPL Financial Building

Significant transactions

With news of LPL Financial potentially exploring a sale of their business, we look back at some of the biggest IBD merger and acquisition deals over the last few years.

Nationwide acquires Jefferson National

Nationwide entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Louisville, Kentucky-based Jefferson National from Napier Park Financial Partners, a private equity group, in late September.

Jefferson National currently serves nearly 4,000 RIAs and fee-based advisers. The firm reported $4.7 billion in assets as of June 30. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Scottrade Financial exploring sale, deal potentially valued at $4B

Unlike other confirmed M&A deals, Scottrade Financial was said to be exploring a potential sale of its business in September and the brokerage could be valued at $4 billion, according to Bloomberg News.

No final deal decisions were made, Bloomberg reported. But TD Ameritrade was said to have expressed interest, Bloomberg sources said.

Through four of its subsidiaries, Scottrade Financial offers retail brokerage, investment advisory and banking services. Scottrade, the firm's renowned discount brokerage, has nearly 500 branches nationwide.

Wall Street Financial Group sells assets to Securities America

Securities America was reported to have completed its purchase of certain assets from Wall Street Financial Group in late September.

The deal saw 67 advisers who generated approximately $11 million in revenue from $2.1 billion in client assets make the transition, Securities America said.

Together with its acquisition of Foothill Securities in August of 2016, Securities America completed a total of nine transactions, onboarding more than 1,000 advisers with roughly $127.8 million in revenue and $14.9 billion in client assets, the firm said.

Securities America has more than 2,000 independent advisers on its platform with $58 billion in client assets, according to the independent broker-dealer.

Cetera offloads Legend Group

Lincoln Investment announced its acquisition of Cetera Financial's Legend Group in mid-September.

Lincoln Investment's adviser headcount was expected to increase by 40% to 1,100 — overseeing more than $30 billion in client assets, after the deal is completed, according to Ed Frost, the firm's president and CEO. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

To read more, click here.

Securities America acquires parts of Foothill Securities

Securities America announced its acquisition of parts of smaller rival Foothill Securities, an independent broker-dealer with 210 advisers, in early August.

Foothill advisers operate in 12 states, and the firm has $5.14 billion in client assets, according to Securities America.

Based in Santa Clara, California, Foothill reported $39.8 million in annual revenue and a net loss of $674,000 for 2015, according to SEC filings.

To read more, click here.
3 AIG B-Ds to Pay $9.5M in SEC Steering Case

Lightyear Capital and PSP Investments buys AIG Advisor Group

Lightyear Capital and PSP Investments, the Canadian pension investment manager, announced their purchase of AIG's broker-dealer arm earlier in January and completed the sale in May 2016.

AIG had 5,200 independent advisers, 800 full-time employees and generated more than $1.3 billion in revenues prior to the sale.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

To read more, click here.

Stifel sells Sterne Agee IBD a year after buying it

Stifel sold off Sterne Agee's independent broker-dealer earlier this year. The sale was annouced just over a year after Stifel bought the unit.

More than 600 independent advisers who had joined Stifel from Sterne Agee were expected to make the move to INTL FCStone, a New York-based financial services firm, according to a spokesman. Sterne Agee has about $11 billion in assets, Stifel says.

To read more, click here.
Ameriprise financial bloomberg

Ameriprise buys JHS Capital Advisors

Ameriprise announced its purchase of JHS Capital Advisor back in April of 2015.

JHS generated over $38 million in revenue in 2014 and at year-end had retail assets totaling $4.1 billion.

To read more, click here.

Stifel acquires Sterne Agee for $150M

Stifel acquired brokerage firm Sterne Agee for $150 million in 2015.

Stifel, based in St. Louis, had approximately 2,100 advisors, while Sterne Agee, based in Birmingham, Alabama, had about 700 employee and independent advisers managing approximately $26 billion in total assets at the point of sale.

To read more, click here.
Cetera headquarters

RCS closes $1.15 billion Cetera deal

RCS Capital forked out $1.15 billion in cash to acquire Cetera Financial from affiliates Lightyear Capital in April of 2014.

The combined retail advice platform was expected to produce approximately $1.7 billion in revenue, 8,900 advisers, $191 billion in assets and 2.6 million clients.

To read more, click here.
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