Shareholders Service boss: We’re not for sale

Shareholders Service Group Inc. is not for sale, according to Peter Mangan, chief executive of the small San Diego-based custodian.
That’s not really news, but something Mr. Mangan felt the firm’s registered investment advisers needed to hear. “People wonder, what are our plans for the future?” Mr. Mangan said Thursday afternoon at SSG’s inaugural conference in San Diego. “What’s our exit strategy?”
If anyone is wondering, “we’re not for sale,” he said.
SSG plans to stick around and continue serving its niche market of smaller and startup RIAs. Advisers are “looking for consistency,” Dan Skiles, SSG’s executive vice president, said in an interview. “They don’t want to worry about an announcement next week at SSG about a big change” in management or ownership.
“We’ve been approached by big companies to entertain offers,” Mr. Mangan told attendees. “But we never let them in the door.”
SSG is owned and operated by its employees, he said. “We’re private and intend to stay private.” Mr. Mangan said.
For many of the 300 advisers at the event, the company’s first-ever conference was the first opportunity they’ve had to meet SSG staff. Only about 10% of the firm’s nearly 1,000 advisers have made a home office visit, Mr. Mangan told InvestmentNews.
The company’s RIAs manage almost $4 billion.
SSG was started in 2002 by Mr. Mangan and Robert Reed, executive vice president. Both men are former executives of Jack White & Co., and later with TD Ameritrade, then known as TD Waterhouse after it acquired Jack White in 1998.