Hahn Loeser Partners, Andrew S. May and Molly Z. Brown, completed a complex sale of their client’s investment book to a Midwest-based registered investment advisor firm looking to gain a foothold in the Florida market. In this transaction, May and Brown represented an investment advisor representative (IAR) based in Florida who owned his own book of clients and was departing his existing firm. Their client’s billing book included a nine-figure sum of assets under management.
What made the transaction complex is that the IAR held 40% of the value of his book in stock in a Roth 401K Plan. Instead of the more common acquisition approach (i.e., an asset purchase), the buyer, a registered investment advisor company, had to acquire the stock held by May’s client, which involved ERISA issues not common to these types of transactions. Stock transactions are generally more complicated because unlike an asset purchase, the acquirer gets the liabilities, as well. Ultimately, May and Brown secured a multi-million-dollar deal for their client to transition his billing book and clients to the buyer. Paralegal Gretchen M. Nine-Bunnell also worked on this transaction effectively managing the due diligence process.
HLP has handled multiple RIA purchase and sale transactions in 2024.
