Kerr says neither company initiated the deal per se, but it evolved over time during business discussions between the two firms and it made sense for both companies on several different levels: comparable client types and company cultures; it would help ease the growing regulatory costs that a small company such as Smith Hayes has to contend with; and it helps D.A. Davidson achieve its stated desire to grow its operations.

For now, Nebraska is the company’s easternmost beachhead on the retail side. But it could be open to further expansion in the future. “The Internet has created an opportunity for us to go to new places,” Kerr says. “We’re open to the small towns in the Midwest.”

He notes the Smith Hayes name will change to D.A. Davidson at a later date.

Along those lines, the company also announced on Monday that Crowell, Weedon & Co., a full-service brokerage and money management firm based in Los Angeles which D.A. Davidson bought in 2013, will be rebranded with the D.A. Davidson name. It had been operating under the banner of Crowell, Weedon & Co., a division of D.A. Davidson & Co.

“We respect the name Crowell, Weedon, but the synergies of having one brand outweighed the multiple brand approach,” Kerr says. “We’re small enough to where focusing on one brand gives us a lot more power than focusing on two or three different brands.”

In addition, the company announced that Tom Smith, chairman of Smith Hayes, and Andrew Crowell, president of Crowell, Weedon, will both become a vice chairman of D.A. Davidson’s individual investor group, effective immediately. And Smith Hayes president and CEO John Decker will oversee all Nebraska operations for D.A. Davidson’s individual investor group after the deal closes.

D.A. Davidson, which bills itself as the largest full-service investment firm headquartered in the Northwest, has major business hubs in Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.

 

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