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Advisor Group Raises $500M in Debt for B/D Acquisitions

19:11 11 August in In the News by rafferty

August 10, 2022 By Diana Britton, WealthManagement.com Moody’s assigned a B2 rating to the notes and changed its outlook on the firm from stable to positive, saying the benefits of higher interest rates will offset the additional debt. Advisor Group announced plans last week to issue $475 million in senior secured notes to help fund its acquisitions of American Portfolios Financial Services and Infinex Financial Holdings, a broker/dealer that supports community-based banks and credit unions. “We are raising the funds in advance of closing both acquisitions,” said Jon Frojen, chief financial officer at Advisor Group, in an email. “We’re pleased that the offering was very successful in what has been a challenging market for issuers.” According to a BofA Securities document obtained by WealthManagement.com, the final offering was for $500 million in notes at an interest rate of 8.625%, due in 2027. BofA,...

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B/D Aggregator Wentworth to Go Public Via Kingswood SPAC

15:11 13 July in In the News by rafferty

July 8, 2022 By Diana Britton, WealthManagement.com The two will merge under newly created Binah Capital Group, which will have over 1,900 advisors and $25 billion in assets. Broker/dealer aggregator Wentworth Management Services has entered into an agreement to merge with Kingswood Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition corporation sponsored by the major shareholders in British wealth management firm Kingswood Group and a sister company to Kingswood U.S., according to an announcement. The move would allow Wentworth, which owns four independent broker/dealers, to go public. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. "This transaction underscores the importance for wealth management firms to align themselves with organizations that have truly global reach, resources and expertise to accelerate their continued growth and make the most of multiple opportunities that industry, market and economic trends are creating,”...

How To Irritate Advisors: Tell Them Where to Invest

19:15 07 July in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

July 1, 2022 By Jon Henschen, FA Financial Advisor At least once a quarter, I have a conversation with a manager at a hedge fund, mutual fund or private equity firm who’s doing research on independent broker-dealers. One hedge fund manager recently asked me the reasons broker-dealers tell advisors where they should place clients’ assets. The manager was under the impression that B-Ds did it for compliance reasons. It's true that broker-dealers have parameters for how much their advisors can invest in different investments. For example, they might limit 5% of their clients’ portfolio to alternative investments or REITs. But mostly their reasons for moving assets around have nothing to do with compliance and everything to do with increasing asset flow to their largest profit centers. One of the main reasons advisors leave wirehouses...

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Which Firms Are Really Driven by Financial Planning?

17:08 07 July in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

June 21, 2022 By Jon Henschen, ThinkAdvisor  What You Need to Know While consultative selling and financial plan-driven investing have grown dramatically, they are not as widely practiced as you may think. All investment decisions should be backed by some form of financial plan, but often they are not. Product-driven investing is increasingly being forced out, largely by FINRA fines. In 1989, I obtained a securities license through the penny stock firm J.W. Gant, with penny stock firms a common avenue for getting your securities license at the time. These firms were heavily sales driven, with every representative having the book “The Closer” on their desk. (Think of the movie “Boiler Room.”) One week after getting licensed and observing the representatives at this firm, I left for a sounder financial services foundation to build...