$6B Morgan Stanley Team Goes Indie

Fertitta has been with Morgan Stanley since 2008; he started his career at Lehman in 2001 and is based in Houston.

"We are thrilled to launch Americana Partners with offices in Houston, Austin and Dallas … ," he said in a statement. "Our team is extremely committed to providing the highest level of service to our clients, and we are excited to be able to work from the same side of the desk as them at our new firm, where we can now truly be open architecture."

The other advisors working with Fertitta are Billy Busch of Austin; Robert Wellington of Houston; Sheldon Busch, CFP, of Austin;  Josh Caltrider, CIMA, of Dallas; Johnathan Schnitzer of Houston; and Ben Athens of Houston.

"We will now be able to expand our client offering in a number of ways, including providing our clients access to comprehensive family office services, unique investment opportunities and the ability to source our clients' capital markets and credit needs across multiple firms," Fertitta added.

With the addition of the new RIA, "We see this continuing trend of independent firms standing apart as the most powerful force in the market, delivering far more customized, objective advice to clients than any other segment of the industry," Penney explained.

As of March 30, Morgan Stanley had 15,708 registered reps — up 26 from a year ago and 14 from the prior quarter. These advisors have an average of $158 million in client assets and $1.12 million of yearly fees and commissions (vs. $1.06 million in the year-ago quarter).