Ex-PaineWebber chief Don Marron snares ING B-Ds

After months of pursuit, Donald Marron finally has landed a broker-dealer network, and the former chairman and chief executive of PaineWebber Group Inc. can't think more highly of its potential. ING Groep NV said last week that it reached an agreement to sell three of its independent broker-dealers to Lightyear Capital LLC, his private-equity firm. “We think it's a big opportunity for growth,” said Mr. Marron, calling the independent-broker-dealer business “a more contemporary model” than the traditional brokerage business. The strength of independent reps is “selling planning and advice,” particularly as the number of retirees increases, he noted. Lightyear has been chasing independent broker-dealers for months. It was the finalist for the broker-dealers in the AIG Advisor Group until that deal was pulled off the table in August by Robert Benmosche, the new CEO of American International Group Inc. ING will sell three of its broker-dealers in its ING Advisor Network Inc. — Financial Network Investment Corp., Multi-Financial Securities Corp. and Primevest Financial Services Inc. — to Lightyear for an undisclosed amount. These three broker-dealers have a combined 5,700 advisers. For the one-year period ended June 30, the three firms had combined gross revenue of about $653 million and account assets of $70.2 billion. ING will keep two other broker-dealers, ING Financial Advisers and ING Financial Partners Inc. Valerie Brown, chief of the ING Advisor Network, will continue in that role and lead the business after the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year. E-mail Bruce Kelly at [email protected].