A real-estate group led by investor Nicholas Schorsch said early Wednesday that they planned to buy independent broker-dealer First Allied Securities from its private-equity owner Lovell Minnick Partners, which has owned a majority stake in the IBD for less than two years.“This brings a whole new dynamic to the broker-dealer world,” said Jonathan Henschen right, president of the recruiting firm Henschen & Associates, in an interview with AdvisorOne. “It’s like in the ’80s when insurance firms were buying broker-dealers, but now maybe its REITs flush with money that will be buying BDs.”

via First Allied’s Surprise Sale to REIT Creates ‘Whole New Dynamic’ for BDs.

Morgan Stanley MS said Tuesday that it recruited three advisors from rival wirehouse firms with a total of $3.7 million in yearly fees and commissions, while Janney Montgomery Scott announced early Tuesday that its advisors have been joined by a team formerly with Stephens.Arthur Levine moved to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s office in Ridgewood, N.J., from Wells Fargo Advisors WFC. Levine, who has had 12-month production of more than $2.4 million, now reports to branch manager Peter Christou.

via Morgan Stanley Nabs Wells, UBS Reps.

As the competition for top advisor talent remains strong, Hilliard Lyons added two advisors from UBS less than a week after UBS announced it had nabbed a Hilliard Lyons advisor with $475 million in assets.Hilliard Lyons scooped up industry veterans Kevin Lyall and David Havens in Winston-Salem, N.C., as the firm tops off recent growth in the area. They join an office opened last June with three advisors from RBC Wealth Management. Lyall will serve as the resident branch manager for the office.

via Hilliard Lyons Adds Two from UBS | On Wall Street.

The Next GenerationOne of the areas that currently has the attention and resources of industry leaders is the looming talent gap. About 8,600 advisors will reach retirement age in each of the next 13 years, according toa report from consulting firm Cerulli Associates. That doesnt include the 24,000 current advisors who are age 68 and older, the report states. Those demographics have inspired leading wealth management firms to deploy aggressive new techniques to build their bench.Merrill Lynch #1 on Total Revenue Leaderboard recently revamped its advisor training program to improve long-term advisor retention and quality. The firms Practice Management Development program “graduates” about 39% of each class into advisor roles. Although this is slightly above the industry average of 30%, according to Cerulli, Merrill Lynch realizes it must boost that number to around 50%, without lowering standards, in order to fill the widening advisor generation gap.

via Leaders: Ranking the Top Wirehouses and Regional Broker-Dealers | On Wall Street.

NEW YORK Reuters – Morgan Stanley has asked an Idaho court to prohibit three brokers it says generated over half the revenue at its Coeur dAlene branch from contacting former colleagues about joining them at a Stifel Nicolaus & Co. office they have set up in the same cityThe offices producing branch manager, Michael Armon, and two associates resigned from Morgan Stanley on May 9, causing “upset, anxiety, insecurity, uneasiness and concern” at “a relatively small office” that had only six advisers, according to a May 17 filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho by the brokerage. The brokers who left oversaw about $229 million of client assets and generated about $1.7 million of revenue annually, the filing said.Morgan Stanley seeks return of all company and client documents from the advisers and asked the court to ban them from destroying any records or documents that could be used in an arbitration proceeding that is being arranged. It also asked to enjoin them from contacting the three brokers and their support staff still working at the Morgan Stanley office.Brokerage firms fight fiercely to retain and recruit top brokers and requests for restraining orders are common. The Idaho case, however, brings up some unusual issues, lawyers said. Most significantly, it could help distinguish between illegal “raiding” of a branch and acceptable recruiting practices that are largely orchestrated by branch managers.

via Morgan Stanley sues high-producing brokers for jump to Stifel – chicagotribune.com.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has scored a new private wealth advisor who previously managed more than $1 billion in client assets at Credit Suisse.Vishal Bakshi moved to Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking and Investments Group in New York on May 24 following 12 years at Credit Suisse. Prior to that, Bakshi, who is 40, served as a business development manager at Bertelsmann Media Group.

via Merrill Lynch Lures Credit Suisse Advisor Vishal Bakshi | On Wall Street.

Baird has snapped up an advisor with $200 million in AUM from William Blair, an employee-owned brokerage in Chicago.Paul Donnelly, who has 25 years of experience, joins the firm as director and financial advisor in the Chicago Private Wealth Management office.Donnelly began his career in 1987 in the tax division of Arthur Anderson and had been at William Blair as an investment counselor since 2006.

via Baird Adds Advisor from William Blair | On Wall Street.

Trading a job at a giant corporation for a tiny firm often means a big pay cut. For Leo Arms, it was anything but.

Arms left his brokerage job at Morgan Stanley in November 2011 to start his own firm, Thomas Leo Advisory, in Minneapolis.

“I’m making a little bit more than I was at the wirehouse,” he said. “But my clients are paying significantly less.”

He is also happier. “I run my business in my own way. And I’ve eliminated the conflict of interest that goes with depending on commissions to earn a living,” said Arms, whose income percolates from fees on client assets, not commissions on transactions.

via Independent Advisers Are Giving Wirehouses A Run For The Money – Investors.com.