One of Richmond’s last independent brokerages just landed a foothold in Florida by hiring almost a dozen former employees from a collapsed firm. And the company wants to tune up its Richmond operations with a new website and a more entrepreneurial approach to managing client’s investments.
Anderson & Strudwick, which has brokerage and investment bank divisions, hired 10 brokers from GunnAllen for its 5,500-square-foot Tampa office. A&S now has 65 brokers.
“When we looked at this group, we picked the crown jewels,” said Todd Newton, the recently hired chief executive at Anderson Strudwick. Newton has previously said he intends to grow the firm through acquisitions and new hires. (You can read more about that in an RBS Q&A here.)
This was not an acquisition, Newton said, as the previous firm was defunct. Instead, A&S has expanded by adding employees, and those employees were bringing in about $4 million in annual billing by managing about $500 million in client assets, Newton said.
“This allows us to enter the Florida marketplace, which has largely been a difficult state in which to operate from a regulatory standpoint,” he said. “We are also actively searching for individuals in markets like Orlando, Jacksonville and Tallahassee.”
GunAllen ran into trouble after a broker in Michigan was caught abetting a $250 million Ponzi scheme. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority shuttered the firm on March 22, according to InvestmentNews.
The biggest new fish might just be J. Gunn, who helped found the Tampa firm GunnAllen in the 1990s. Gunn was not involved in management.
“I have my own client practice, but I wasn’t interested in starting another brokerage,” Gunn said. “I wanted a place I felt I could go to and service my clients.”
This will be the farthest push south for A&S, which has eight outposts across the Southeast. Before the Tampa office, Charleston, S.C., was the southernmost holding.
Newton said that the new hires are one of the ways the firm is expanding and tuning up its business. He said brokers will be spending more time working to bring in more business and maintain existing business. The firm has also increased its advertising, including a billboard at the Diamond with the AA team the Flying Squirrels.
And it’s likely a big relief to employees and shareholders that the deal went through without major hiccups, unlike an on-again, off-again series of overtures from a Tennessee firm that twice said it was interested in buying A&S. (You can read more about that here.)
Also on A&S’s plate: The company’s mergers and acquisitions division helped assemble another Chinese IPO, which has been a niche for the firm for several years. Dehaier Medical Systems is in the development, assembly, marketing and sale of medical products in China, including respiratory and oxygen homecare products. The company sold 1.5 million shares Thursday at $8 per share. The company trades under the symbol “DHRM” on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Aaron Kremer covers finance and mergers and acquisitions for BizSense. Please send news tips to Editor (at) Richmondbizsense.com.
One of Richmond’s last independent brokerages just landed a foothold in Florida by hiring almost a dozen former employees from a collapsed firm. And the company wants to tune up its Richmond operations with a new website and a more entrepreneurial approach to managing client’s investments.
Anderson & Strudwick, which has brokerage and investment bank divisions, hired 10 brokers from GunnAllen for its 5,500-square-foot Tampa office. A&S now has 65 brokers.
“When we looked at this group, we picked the crown jewels,” said Todd Newton, the recently hired chief executive at Anderson Strudwick. Newton has previously said he intends to grow the firm through acquisitions and new hires. (You can read more about that in an RBS Q&A here.)
This was not an acquisition, Newton said, as the previous firm was defunct. Instead, A&S has expanded by adding employees, and those employees were bringing in about $4 million in annual billing by managing about $500 million in client assets, Newton said.
“This allows us to enter the Florida marketplace, which has largely been a difficult state in which to operate from a regulatory standpoint,” he said. “We are also actively searching for individuals in markets like Orlando, Jacksonville and Tallahassee.”
GunAllen ran into trouble after a broker in Michigan was caught abetting a $250 million Ponzi scheme. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority shuttered the firm on March 22, according to InvestmentNews.
The biggest new fish might just be J. Gunn, who helped found the Tampa firm GunnAllen in the 1990s. Gunn was not involved in management.
“I have my own client practice, but I wasn’t interested in starting another brokerage,” Gunn said. “I wanted a place I felt I could go to and service my clients.”
This will be the farthest push south for A&S, which has eight outposts across the Southeast. Before the Tampa office, Charleston, S.C., was the southernmost holding.
Newton said that the new hires are one of the ways the firm is expanding and tuning up its business. He said brokers will be spending more time working to bring in more business and maintain existing business. The firm has also increased its advertising, including a billboard at the Diamond with the AA team the Flying Squirrels.
And it’s likely a big relief to employees and shareholders that the deal went through without major hiccups, unlike an on-again, off-again series of overtures from a Tennessee firm that twice said it was interested in buying A&S. (You can read more about that here.)
Also on A&S’s plate: The company’s mergers and acquisitions division helped assemble another Chinese IPO, which has been a niche for the firm for several years. Dehaier Medical Systems is in the development, assembly, marketing and sale of medical products in China, including respiratory and oxygen homecare products. The company sold 1.5 million shares Thursday at $8 per share. The company trades under the symbol “DHRM” on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Aaron Kremer covers finance and mergers and acquisitions for BizSense. Please send news tips to Editor (at) Richmondbizsense.com.