Woodbury Financial lures $2B OSJ after LPL deal

Woodbury Financial Services notched its second major recruiting grab in just two weeks, adding an SII Investments firm with $2 billion in client assets and 52 advisors to its ranks.

The move comes as Woodbury has been courting former National Planning Holdings’ advisors, ever since LPL Financial bought that firm’s assets in August. Tenacity Advisory Group, an office of supervisory jurisdiction in Green Bay, Wisconsin, joined Woodbury from SII, one of NPH's four independent broker-dealers.

Including Tenacity’s team, a total of 140 new advisors have come aboard at Woodbury this year and 440 have joined its parent, Advisor Group, the firm says. In mid-October, Woodbury also nabbed another Wisconsin-based team of seven advisors managing $435 million in assets.

Now, Tenacity is at least the fourth firm to pick a smaller IBD over LPL following the giant acquisition. (In contrast to LPL, which is the nation’s largest IBD, Woodbury is the 25th largest).

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Advisor Group’s four BDs, as well as Securities America, Cetera Financial Group, Commonwealth Financial Network and Kestra Financial have emerged as top alternatives to LPL following the deal, one recruiter says.

“They have the size, the scale, the quality, but they certainly have the means of supporting these OSJs,” says Barbara Herman, a senior vice president with Diamond Consultants. “There’s sort of this short list of proven winners in this space who can handle the complexity of a large OSJ move.”

Sue VandeYacht

Tenacity formally joined Woodbury last week, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. A spokesman for LPL declined to comment on their move, while a spokeswoman for National Planning Holdings didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Tenacity launched in 2010 with nine advisors and $250 million in client assets, growing to its present footprint of 30 offices in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Nebraska, according to the firm. Prior to affiliating with SII, Tenacity President Mike Savolt had worked 15 years at Capital Financial Services.

“Our decision to join Woodbury was an easy one, based on the strong values the firm demonstrated,” Savolt said in a statement. “During our search process, Woodbury treated us like family, and the relationships that we've already built with them are invaluable.”

Pershing will remain Tenacity’s custodian following the move to suburban St. Paul, Minnesota-based firm, Woodbury says. Industry observers had mentioned firms on Pershing’s platform as key players in the recruiting fight after the deal.

LPL plans to provide an update next week on its success in retaining the first wave of National Planning Holdings’ 3,200 advisors. The acquiring firm slated the migration of National Planning and Investment Centers of America assets for next month, followed by those of SII and Invest Financial in February.