Fidelity is launching a program to help registered investment advisors with mergers and acquisitions, including access to financing.
The service will also include workshops and white papers on merger and acquisition strategies, and networking opportunities to find firms that are looking to buy or be acquired.
Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, through an alliance with Live Oak Bank in Wilmington, N.C., is providing its RIA clients access to discounted loans and a customer service team to help streamline the loan acceptance process.
Live Oak Bank is a small business lender and can provide financing for loans up to $5 million. In addition to providing loans for mergers and acquisitions, Live Oak Bank will also offer loans for internal succession plans and for breakaways.
“While many RIAs are interested in M&A, the pace of deals has not been commensurate with the interest we’ve seen from advisors,” says David Canter, executive vice president and head of practice management and consulting at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. “We believe that is largely due to the lack of organizational focus, tools and third-party support needed to facilitate M&A.”
According to the 2011 Fidelity RIA Benchmarking Study, 63 percent of RIAs would consider acquiring another firm, 38 percent would consider merging with another firm and 16 percent would consider selling their firm.