Stifel Financial confirmed late Monday that it is indeed buying broker-dealer Sterne Agee Group, as had been reported widely on Friday. The firm, which also shared its latest earnings, says it will buy Sterne Agee for about $150 million in cash and stock.
The St. Louis-based firm said it had fourth-quarter earnings of $58.4 million, or $0.75 per share, $0.03 below analysts' estimates. Revenue for the quarter was $578.1 million vs. the consensus estimate of $581.6 million.
"We have identified a great firm in Sterne Agee to bolster our Global Wealth Management group with the addition of more than 700 financial advisors and independent representatives, increasing advisor professionals by 35%," said Stifel CEO & Chairman Ron Kruszewski, in a press release.
"Sterne Agee's fixed-income platform is highly complementary to our existing products and services, and together will catapult this business to a new level, continuing the momentum we established with the addition of Knight's fixed income sales and trading business," he explained. "This acquisition furthers our goal of creating a balanced, well-diversified business mix with wealth management and institutional exposure."
Stifel has 1,965 employee advisors and 138 independent reps in its Century Securities unit; the company's global-wealth business has nearly $187 billion in assets under management. Sterne Agee includes 130 private-client advisors with some $10 billion in client assets and over 600 independent reps with $10 billion in client assets.
If all reps and all assets stay after the merger, Stifel will have some 2,095 employee advisors, 738 independent reps and $200 billion of AUM. It has set aside some $58 million for retention packages as part of the deal.
