AIG Life and Retirement's Advisor Group (AIG) said early Monday that it completed its purchase of Woodbury Financial Services from The Hartford. The companies had first agreed to the deal in late July.
Woodbury Financial adds about 1,400 advisors and $25 billion in assets under management to the Advisor Group's network, which includes FSC Securities Corp., Royal Alliance Associates and SagePoint Financial.
With Woodbury, the Advisor Group says it now includes over 6,000 independent financial advisors, more than 800 home-office employees and over $125 billion in assets under management. (That represents average AUM per advisor of $21 million.)
"We are delighted to add Woodbury Financial to our organization and are confident that we will grow the firm by highlighting Woodbury's unique value proposition to high quality advisors," said Larry Roth (left), president and chief executive of Advisor Group, in a statement. "Each of our broker-dealers has recruited a number of advisors this year and we remain eager to bring more talent to Advisor Group."
Woodbury is based in Oakdale, Minn., where it has about 200 staff members. Royal Alliance is based in New York, while FSC has its offices in Atlanta and SagePoint in Phoenix.
"Our advisors are very excited to be part of Advisor Group," said Patrick McEvoy, president and CEO of Woodbury Financial, in a press release. "From the hands-on service to industry-leading technology to unique opportunities for growth, I'm confident our advisors will benefit greatly from our affiliation."
Acquisitions continue to be critical to players in the independent broker-dealer (IBD) field, as is aggressive recruiting and sales growth.
