LPL to Buy $2B Advisory Firm

LPL Financial says it is buying E.K. Riley Investments, a broker-dealer and RIA in Seattle with some 35 financial advisors and $2 billion of client assets under management.  

About $673 million of these assets are connected to its RIA, which includes 61 employees, according to its latest SEC filing.

The news comes a month after LPL said it was buying Lucia Securities, a San Diego-based wealth group with about 20 advisors and $1.5 billion of client assets under management, and two weeks after the IBD announced plans to open a technology office in Texas.

While the pandemic shutdown has been damaging for small BDs, “Large firms like @LPL [are] well positioned to acquire. Buying for ‘just’ 6X post-synergy EBITDA. Expect more of this,” said popular blogger Michael Kitces of Kitces.com on Twitter. 

But Ray Lucia Jr., who leads Lucia Securities, responded in a tweet that the E.K. Riley news may not be tied to the coronavirus: “After a year long process we evaluated dozens of potential partners and made our decision before the pandemic, not because of it. Deals take time. It’s logical to expect pandemic related deals to be announced closer to Q4.”

LPL says it structured the E.K. Riley deal, which should close in the third or fourth quarter, as an asset purchase. It did not disclose the purchase price, but says the transaction includes a payment at closing and potential contingency payments.