AmeriLife Group LLC, headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., has acquired a majority interest in Brookstone Capital Management, according to a news release.
The deal will create a combined organization with more than $3.5 billion in annual life, health and annuity premiums and $2.7 billion in assets under management (AUM), according to a press release.
Brookstone’s founder, Dean Zayed, will continue to serve as CEO of his firm, while also assuming the position of president of AmeriLife’s new Investment Advisory Services division. Brookstone will continue to operate from its Wheaton, Ill., location.
Scott R. Perry, CEO of AmeriLife, said in the news release that the acquisition of a majority stake in Brookstone was a major step in his firm’s strategic goal of providing full-service insurance, retirement and legacy planning services to its agents, advisors and clients.
“Brookstone’s comprehensive investment management platform, education and training resources, and operational and marketing support enable advisors to start and grow a successful investment advisory practice,” he said. “These capabilities will be tremendous assets for our thousands of insurance and annuity-based career and independent agents who are looking to expand their businesses to include investment advisory services.”
Brookstone has a network of over 400 affiliated advisors and firms providing more than 24,000 pre-retirees with investment strategy and asset management services.
Zayed said that by integrating his firm with AmeriLife, affiliated advisors and agents would have access to a broader set of financial strategies to meet their clients’ financial needs.
In an email, Zayed said that he attributed his firm’s rapid growth to a series of model portfolios added to the Brookstone platform that are managed internally. As a result, he said, affiliated advisors are free to focus on cultivating new client relationships and maintaining existing ones.
He also said that another factor contributing to Brookstone’s growth was a new proprietary advisor portal that allowed affiliated advisors to easily manage all aspects of their client relationships, from account opening, to trading and performance reporting.
“Whereas most other TAMPS work through the broker-dealer channels, Brookstone has worked in the independent insurance channel,” he said.