Five months after it struck a recruiting deal with Allianz Life Insurance, Woodbury Financial Services says it has added 407 advisors — about 64% of advisors with Questar Capital and Questar Asset Management — with 86% of the advisors' total assets under management, $1.8 billion, and 83% of assets under administration, $12.2 billion.
The IBD says it added another 165 advisors (from NPC and the closing of its Capital One acquisition) and $9.8 billion in AUA over the past 18 months, giving it a total of about 1,600 advisors, $11 billion under management and $45 billion under administration.
But could this growth pattern prompt a change of strategy for Lightyear Capital, the private equity group that owns Woodbury and the other independent broker-dealers that make up Advisor Group — FSC Securities Corp., Royal Alliance Associates and SagePoint Financial?
"As the growth of Advisor Group continues, questions arise as to whether Lightyear will want to take profits and move on or continue to grow and go public," said recruiter Jon Henschen of Henschen & Associates.
"With current global market concerns, my bet is on taking profits in the near future and moving on to the next project," Henschen explained.
(Lightyear bought Advisor Group in 2016; it previously owned the Cetera broker-dealers, which it sold to RCS Capital in 2014 for more than $1 billion.)
Woodbury, Questar and Henschen are based in the greater Minneapolis area.
"Questar Capital geography made Woodbury an obvious and convenient option to ensure high retention," the recruiter said.
