Wacker would not disclose how much was spent on the deal but says, “Even though we were more profitable at the time, it was a little less than a third of what they had paid me for it.
“They were very good to work with in that they didn’t want to ruin us, and as long as they got something for it, it wasn’t a big deal to them one way or the other,” he adds.
For the most part, Wacker says he never had a contentious relationship with the bank. But he had friends and knew of others who did. “I don’t know the financial aspects of how they did but I know the relationship aspects were a lot worse,” he says. “Ours was a lovefest by comparison.”
He says his firm continues to remain independent, and the hope is to keep it that way. “And that’s a decision you have to make that might cost you because now it’s almost déjà vu. There are a lot of people looking to buy firms like ours now that would pay a lot more than we are transferring shares at,” he says.
Today, he doesn’t look back on the sale as a good or bad thing. At the end of August, Wacker Wealth had $925 million in AUM. “It turned out the way it turned out and that was just fine,” he says. “It had some challenges to it—after 20 plus years calling your own shots and to not have complete control over that. … But not the challenges I know some of my friends had.”
Wacker says even though the bank that bought his firm went through three different ownerships, he never had an adversarial relationship with it. “We are very blessed with the way it turned out,” he says. “I would have been fine if I had been just ridden off into the sunset, but I am happy that I am still able to be here and do business the way it should be done.”
Greg Sullivan And Jim Bruyette
Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney LLC
All RIA marriages and divorces should go as smoothly as the 13-year relationship between Bank of Montreal and Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney (SBSB).
When Bank of Montreal bought SBSB in 2003, the McLean, Va.-based RIA saw an opportunity to access the bank’s vast resources and acquire other firms. But that wasn’t all. “They wanted to import our method of doing business leading with financial planning,” recalls Jim Bruyette, co-CEO of SBSB. “They wanted to use that process to train their advisors.”