LPL Launches M&A Solutions For Advisors
LPL Financial, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer, has unveiled an enhanced suite of services to help advisors sell or acquire practices.
With M&A Solutions, LPL provides end-to-end support for advisors throughout the mergers and acquisition process. It’s designed to be fast, efficient and cost-effective. It provides buyers with access to information and support that helps them differentiate themselves in the marketplace so they are ready to take action when the right opportunity arises. The premium support gives buyers access to LPL’s M&A professionals, an exclusive first look at practices for sale and discounted financing.
The seller support program helps advisors define their ideal buyer and prepares the practices for sale. LPL then assists sellers through each stage of the M&A process, helping position the practices for maximum value and fit, as well as facilitating the sale.
LPL is headquartered in Fort Mill, S.C.; San Diego; and Boston.
Transamerica To Offer Plan Participants Remote Online Notary Service
Transamerica is now offering retirement plan participants the ability to remotely notarize their documents online.
Instead of having to make in-person appointments to sign documents and have them notarized, plan participants can use a secure digital alternative, not only for notarized documents but also for the medallion signature guarantees required for certain transactions.
Notarize is a secure and efficient way to certify documents online using any Apple or Android device or computer, and it’s available anytime. Once plan participants have set up their account on the Notarize landing page, they are connected to a commissioned virtual notary to engage in a multi-factor authentication process that includes video capture to confirm and validate their identity.
Once all documents have been signed, the Notarize platform automatically submits the completed document to Transamerica for approval upon payment of a nominal fee. Spanish-speaking notaries are also available.
Transamerica is the Baltimore-based subsidiary of Aegon, headquartered in the Netherlands.
EstateExec Rolls Out Estate Settlement Software For Advisors
Santa Clara, Calif.-based EstateExec, the online software for estate executors, is now offering a professional version designed for financial advisors and accountants.
EstateExec Pro provides an automated financial framework to track estate inventory, administration expenses, heir distributions, deemed disposition (a departure tax for leaving another country, such as Canada) and cost basis. Also included with EstateExec’s software is executor guidance based on local statutes, providing recommendations on probate applications, creditor notifications, family entitlements and executor compensation.
Advisors and accountants can offer the software to their customers as a helpful outreach or can actively collaborate using the online sharing feature, giving their clients read-only or full edit capabilities on the estate.
EstateExec offers versions for both U.S. and Canadian estate settlement.
Hercules Launches Mutual Fund
Hercules Investments, a registered investment advisor and alternatives investment manager headquartered in Los Angeles, has launched a fund that helps investors profit from stock market volatility as markets face uncertainty from Covid-19 and the risk of rising inflation.
The fund, called the Hercules Fund, profits by substituting liquid alternative assets for the traditional 60%/40% stock-bonds portfolio mix.
James McDonald, CEO and CIO of Hercules Investments, will serve as portfolio manager.
Equitable Launches Platform For ERISA And Non-ERISA Retirement Plans
Equitable, a New York City-based financial services organization, has launched Equitable Retirement Vision, an open-architecture retirement plan platform offering fiduciary support for plan sponsors.
Equitable Retirement Vision offers a managed account option, a personalized digital retirement wellness program for plan participants and an open architecture investment platform providing a choice of more than 16,000 mutual funds and collective investment trust (CIT) options. It also offers a self-directed brokerage account through an unaffiliated third party. And it offers mobile account access.
The platform is designed for small to medium-sized businesses as well as K-12 school plans, higher education and the governmental, health-care and not-for-profit sectors.
Equitable is the principal franchise of Equitable Holdings Inc.
Central Park And Select Equity Launch International Long-Short Equity Fund
Central Park Group LLC, an independent investment advisory firm headquartered in New York City, has launched CPG Cooper Square International Equity LLC, an international long-short equity fund created for qualified individuals and smaller institutional investors. The fund was launched in partnership with Select Equity Group LP, which serves as a subadvisor.
The strategy seeks to augment traditional long-only investing by taking advantage of profit opportunities from securities identified as both undervalued and overvalued.
The fund offers investments in stable, high-growth international companies at significant discounts to intrinsic value.
Select Equity Group was founded in 1990 and manages over $30 billion. Central Park Group, founded in 2006, serves a demand for alternative investments from high-net-worth and smaller institutional investors.