SagePoint lures 9 NPH firms with more than $1.2 billion after LPL deal

SagePoint Financial grabbed at least nine practices with more than $1.2 billion in client assets from National Planning Holdings broker-dealers after LPL Financial acquired their assets.

SagePoint, one of Advisor Group’s four IBDs and the No. 20 IBD by revenue, announced this week that a total of 15 firms with $1.4 billion in assets under administration joined the firm in the fourth quarter.

At least nine of those firms, and $1.2 billion of the assets, came specifically from NPH. Moreover, Advisor Group overall has added at least 14 ex-NPH firms with more than $5.4 billion since the LPL deal.

On the other hand, LPL has unveiled 11 NPH practices with $500 million in client assets or more who did elect to go to the No. 1 IBD in the first half of the transition following the August purchase. NPH’s four IBDs consist of about 3,200 advisors with $120 billion in client assets.

LPL’s rivals have lured more than 350 advisors with $16.4 billion in client assets out of the incoming crop. The Phoenix-based SagePoint’s new practices following LPL’s acquisition include former SII Investments firm Legacy Financial Advisors and former National Planning practice Coda Financial Group.

For the year, Advisor Group's four IBDs have recruited 599 new advisors, according to the firm. Sagepoint's crop of 165 advisors represents the best recruiting year since CEO Jeff Auld came to the firm in 2008, he says.

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• Career moves
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• Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services
• Osaic
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• M&A
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• Cetera Financial Group

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The firm's recruiting momentum "was definitely driven by advisors looking for a change," whether from NPH or other firms, Auld said in an emailed statement.

"We’ve dedicated a large amount of resources to improving our products and services, and advisors have responded positively to that. While the entire industry has experienced a shift as a result of the deal, we’ve heard from these new recruits that it’s largely Sagepoint’s culture and values that attracted them to us."

A spokeswoman for National Planning Holdings and a spokesman for LPL declined to comment.

LPL CEO Dan Arnold has said he expects to retain around 70% of production from National Planning and Investment Centers of America in the first NPH wave. The firm will provide more precise details in its next quarterly earnings report, Arnold said last month.

With $656 million in client assets, Legacy Financial Advisors is the largest firm to spurn LPL for SagePoint. Managing partner Paul Mauro, who leads the nine advisors of the Westborough, Massachusetts-based firm, started Nov. 28 at SagePoint after 10 years with SII, according to FINRA BrokerCheck.

Coda Financial Group, which has offices in Honolulu and Raleigh, North Carolina, formally aligned with SagePoint on Oct. 24, BrokerCheck shows. Managing partner Daniel Coda, who had an earlier tenure with Sagepoint before going to National Planning in 2009, leads a team of 10 advisors managing $233 million in client assets.

SagePoint’s other ex-NPH practices also include Wichita, Kansas-based Baxter & Associates, Woodland Hills, California-based Monarch Wealth Advisors and San Diego-based Advent Financial Services. The three firms manage a combined $328.7 million in client assets.