HighTower nabs ex-wirehouse advisers with $500M

Four former wirehouse advisers with $500 million in combined client assets have gone independent with HighTower, becoming the seventh team to join the firm this year, according to HighTower.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Todd Baker, Bradley Harvey, Jack York and James Young will each operate their own advisory practices under their new shared brand, Resolute Investment Advisors, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a spokeswoman says.

Baker, Harvey and York defected from UBS, while Young left Merrill.

Todd Baker, former UBS adviser, has left the wirehouse to join HighTower.

Baker began his career with Merrill, worked at Citigroup for 11 years and spent eight years at UBS, according to his FINRA BrokerCheck report. Harvey started his career with Merrill in 1994 and spent eight years at Citigroup before moving to UBS in 2009, according to his BrokerCheck.

Advisers on the Move AOTM April 4, 2017

The advisers oversaw nearly $900 million in combined AUM, and moved to Morgan Stanley, Raymond James and HighTower.

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After joining Merrill in 1982, York spent 13 years at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray and another 15 years with UBS. Young had been with Merrill since 2008, after starting his career in 1980 at the brokerage B.C. Ziegler, according to BrokerCheck.

UBS and Merrill declined to comment on the departures.

"HighTower presented us with the opportunity to build and grow a business where our clients' best interests come first," Baker said in a statement.

HighTower added a recording-breaking number of new teams in the first quarter of this year, a spokeswoman says. It kicked off the second quarter with the acquisition annoucement of Houston-based WealthTrust, adding $6.4 billion in client assets in one fell swoop. When it was announced, the WealthTrust transaction was thought to be the year's largest RIA M&A deal thus far.

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Going independent Wirehouse advisors Wirehouses Career moves Recruiting UBS Merrill Lynch Hightower
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