Bruton makes first acquisition as CEO of Lucia Capital Group

Former LPL Financial executive Derek Bruton did not waste any time putting his imprint on Lucia Capital Group, a collection of Southern California financial services companies. On Thursday morning, the company announced it was buying the managed equity and fixed-income accounts of West Coast Asset Management of Santa Barbara, a registered investment advisory firm with $170 million in assets. Mr. Bruton, the former managing director of independent adviser services at LPL, left the firm in March after the company said it had concerns about his interactions with employees. In the summer, he was named chief executive of Lucia Capital. Lucia Capital has $2.3 billion of client assets in various lines of business, from advice to insurance, 70 employees and 16 branch offices for advisers working for its RIA. Expect more growth from Lucia Capital. “This transaction with West Coast Asset Management is just the beginning of a focused acquisition strategy for Lucia Capital,” Mr. Bruton said in a statement. “Going forward, we will continue to aggressively explore acquisition opportunities with other independent firms that can benefit from Lucia Capital's years of experience, strategic vision and industry leading financial planning and investment offerings.” Lucia Capital will acquire West Coast Asset Management's client relationships under the agreement, the companies said in a statement. West Coast's president, Lance Helfert, will join Lucia as a senior vice president. Its chief investment officer, Atticus Lowe, will join Lucia's research and investment management group. It's been a busy week for former LPL executives. On Tuesday, RCS Capital Corp. said it had hired a former top LPL executive, Bill Dwyer, as chief executive of Realty Capital Securities, RCS Capital's wholesaling and distribution broker-dealer that is a leading seller of nontraded real estate investment trusts. For years LPL's chief of recruiting and most recently its president of national sales, Mr. Dwyer resigned from LPL last year.