Raymond James' (RJF) independent advisor channel is capitalizing on advisors' desire to retire knowing they've made the best decisions for their clients and themselves. The group's succession planning and acquisitions team aims to give advisors a full-service approach to merging or selling their businesses.
"It's a marriage," said Patrick Jinks, vice president of the group, in an interview during Raymond James Financial Services' national conference in Las Vegas on Monday. "We give them honest answers" about how the firm facilitates these deals. "They are going to be together for a while … and we want them to go into this with their eyes wide open and even sign a prenuptial agreement."
Raymond James works on the mergers and acquisitions of practices that don't involve equity.
"We have the culture, depth and breadth of an in-house-like boutique M&A firm," said Jinks, "and we partner with outside professionals, like tax and law firms, as well as third parties, such as Live Oak Bank."
The firm handles financing for some transactions or refers advisors to Live Oak for certain deals, he adds, when the groups involved are looking to closely align tax amortization and loan repayments.
Raymond James also has a Match.com-like website for deals that happen between two Raymond James parties.
"We are having a great deal of success with that," Jinks said.
In the first six months of the company's current fiscal year, the acquisitions team has helped make 28 deals between Raymond James independent reps. Deals involving external advisors – who agree to affiliate with Raymond James as part of the M&A – have totaled 15.
