Family Office
Texas-based SWS Group to acquire ML Stern, Tower
Southwest Securities' parent to double its advisor base, extend
reach to CA. Dallas-based SWS Group has agreed to buy Beverly
Hills, Calif.-based ML Stern & Co. and its subsidiary Tower Asset
Management. The acquisition will double SWS' private-client
advisor network and put SWS back in the investment-management
business.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close before the end of
March 2008, weren't disclosed.
Stern is a wholly owned subsidiary of broker-dealer holding
company Pacific Select Group -- which in turn is a subsidiary of
Newport Beach, Calif.-based Pacific Life.
Southwest Securities
"This combination will significantly benefit all parties while
meeting our stated objectives of growing both organically and
through acquisitions," says SWS' president and CEO Donald
Hultgren. "Going forward, our combined private-client groups will
be positioned in two of the nation's most dynamic state
economies, Texas and California."
Retail brokerage and fixed-income consultancy Stern has 112
advisors and about $4 billion in assets under custody, mainly for
high-net-worth individuals. Besides its Beverly Hills
headquarters it has five additional offices in California --
specifically in Carmel, Rancho Bernardo, Sacramento, San Diego
and San Francisco -- and one in Las Vegas, Nev. Beverly
Hills-based Tower has an additional $50 million in assets under
management.
Stern's CEO Milford Stern says the tie-in with SWS gives Stern
and Tower a chance to "benefit from the financial strength of a
public company that offers a broad product mix and a desire to
expand their presence in the retail marketplace." On the other
side of the equation, SWS gets "a strong foothold in the
high-net-worth California marketplace" while "Stern's historic
focus on fixed-income products provides [SWS] the opportunity to
grow" as baby boomers adopt defensive strategies for their nest
eggs in preparation for retirement.
SWS owns clearing firm Southwest Securities, independent
broker-dealer SWS Financial Services and Southwest Securities
FSB, a community bank with branches in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area. SWS' private-client group has eight offices in Texas, two
in New Mexico and one in Oklahoma. -FWR
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