A Merrill Lynch adviser who managed $125 million in client assets left the wirehouse to go independent with help from Bolton Global Capital, a spokeswoman said.
Samuel Nunez joined TransAtlantic Investment Partners, a San Diego-based firm opened by former Merrill complex director James Jiao last year. Jiao already was working with Bolton Global.
The independent broker-dealer works with wirehouse advisers who served both U.S. and foreign clients, and managed $100 million or more in client assets. Bolton Global provides compliance, back office, trading and technology support. Client assets are held by BNY Mellon-Pershing and other custodians, according to the firm.
The largest teams to go indie this year managed more than $5 billion in client assets.
Nunez made $1 million in production while at the wirehouse, the Bolton Global spokeswoman says, and his clients are primarily located in Mexico and the U.S. He started his career at Merrill Lynch in 1993, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records.
Jiao had been with Merrill for 18 years before hanging his own shingle, according to Bolton Global.
The firm has actively recruited wirehouse advisers over the past year, grabbing eight Merrill Lynch teams that managed more than $1.5 billion in combined assets, the spokeswoman says.
A spokeswoman from Merrill Lynch declined to comment on Nunez's departure.
