Ladenburg Launches Succession Planning Platform

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services has announced the launch of a new succession planning and acquisition platform being made available to its subsidiary advisory shops.

According to the firm, the new suite of service offerings and tools will assist advisers across Ladenburg’s independent advisory and brokerage subsidiaries in achieving their strategic business goals through practice acquisitions and the development of continuity plans.

Subsidiary firms impacted by the announcement include Securities America, Triad Advisors, KMS Financial Services, Investacorp and Securities Service Network.

As explained by Adam Malamed, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ladenburg, the new platform is supported by two dedicated succession planning and acquisitions coaches, with another four experienced business coaches providing additional support for succession planning-related efforts. The coaches serve as a resource to independent advisers throughout the process of developing and executing succession plans and related practice acquisitions and sales.

Key features include the following:

Education and Planning Consultation – The succession planning team consults with advisers affiliated with Ladenburg subsidiaries on succession planning, continuity and acquisition issues on a direct basis, as well as conducting in-depth consulting on these topics at each firm’s respective national conferences.

Adviser Matching – Advisers gain access to the Ladenburg Advisory Practice Listing website, which enables potential buyers and sellers to list their practices for review by prospective transaction partners within the network.

Deal Structure – The support group also leverages its experience across a broad range of transaction structures to provide sample deal terms to advisers and their counsel.

Valuation – Ladenburg’s proprietary estimated practice valuation model, which factors in a broad range of drivers to generate estimates of a business’ value, is available for illustrative purposes to financial advisors.

Practice Transitions – The group works with advisers and their legal, accounting and valuation teams to guide them through the business transition process, with a particular focus on client accounts, compensation flows and license transfers.