GunnAllen to be bought by Progressive Asset Management

GunnAllen Financial Inc. has reached an agreement to be acquired by a West Coast asset manager, Progressive Asset Management Inc., which also controls a broker-dealer. The combined broker-dealers would have about 1,000 independent reps and advisers, catapulting the firm into the top 30 largest independent broker-dealers, according to InvestmentNews data (See the full set of independent broker-dealer rankings.). Progressive bills itself as a socially conscious investing shop. It also controls Financial West Investment Group Inc., a broker-dealer and investment adviser with 340 reps and 140 offices. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, said David Levine, executive vice president of Progressive. He also declined to specify if the firm would be acquiring the GunnAllen broker-dealer or only its advisers and assets. In such acquisitions, buyers sometimes shy away from buying the entire broker-dealer, because of the potential legal risk of acquiring liabilities such as customer lawsuits. “We are looking forward to the next phase,” Mr. Levine said. Fred Kraus, GunnAllen's president, did not immediately return a phone call for comment. The firm has about 700 reps and advisers. The GunnAllen saga has been unfolding for the past two months. In early December, John Sykes, the firm's owner and chairman of the holding company, GunnAllen Holdings Inc., abruptly resigned from the board. Shortly thereafter, he bought a broker-dealer, Pointe Capital Inc., from GunnAllen Holdings to focus on the wealth management business. He made that deal to take Pointe away from GunnAllen mere months after buying it for GunnAllen. In the middle of these events, regulators from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. in December descended on GunnAllen's Tampa, Fla., offices to make sure the firm met its net-capital requirements to keep open for business. Richard Torgerson, president of Progressive Asset Management, did not immediately return a phone call to comment.