After watching advisors bolt, B. Riley now losing investment bankers

It’s not just financial advisors who are walking out the door of B. Riley Financial, but the firm is also losing key investment bankers, and this week saw Jon Merriman, chief business officer, leave, according to his profile on BrokerCheck.

Merriman’s departure follows September’s departure of Patrice McNicoll, who had been co-head of investment banking at the firm, which has been facing severe scrutiny for the past year after it led a $2.8 billion buyout of the Franchise Group in August 2023.

The Franchise Group, the owner of brands including the Vitamin Shoppe and Pet Supplies Plus, filed for bankruptcy protection in November after months of losses and turmoil surrounding its founder and its backer B. Riley Financial, Bloomberg News reported.

The share price of B. Riley Financial stock – with the ticker RILY – has fallen 75 percent in the past 12 months and on Friday afternoon was trading at $5.25.

As part of its overhaul, B. Riley Financial at the start of November said it was selling a piece of its employee wealth management group to Stifel Financial Corp. $27 million to $35 million in cash.

A spokesperson for B. Riley did not return a call Friday morning to comment.

Financial advisors also have been leaving the firm in recent months, but the company is better known for its dealmaking. B. Riley’s capital markets group generated $571 million of total revenue in 2023, according to its annual report, while $198 million was generated from wealth management.

“This is on the B. Riley Securities side of the business, the dealmaking side,” said one senior industry executive who spoke privately to InvestmentNews. “These bankers leaving mean potential revenue reductions. It’s not about headcount. Will this impair deals being generated?”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Merriman “works closely with clients and prospects to leverage the firm's resources in order to create solutions for their capital market needs” and “enjoys actively advising small capitalization, public and private companies on complex financing and growth issues.”

Merriman, who started in the securities industry in 1984 and spend the last seven years at B. Riley, not respond to a message on LinkedIn to comment.

McNicoll’s career in the industry began in 1999, according to his BrokerCheck profile, and he had worked at B. Riley since 2015.

B. Riley Financial has also recently seen several financial advisors leave to rivals.

Brian Todd Cohen on Nov. 18 jumped to Ceros Financial Services Inc., in Westbury, N.Y., according to his BrokerCheck profile.

And on Nov. 14, Russ Zalatimo, head of HudsonPoint Capital and based in Jersey City, N.J., left B. Riley for Arete Wealth Management, also according to BrokerCheck. The firm, which has 11 registered reps and $200 million in assets, focuses on alternative investments.

Eric Lyon, a former senior managing director at B. Riley Wealth Management, jumped in October to Kestra Investment Services. According to Kestra, Lyon’s team, Wealth Empowerment Financial Strategies, had more than 30 advisors and staff and works with $1.4 billion in client assets.

And Philip Wunderlich, the scion of the founder of the former Wunderlich Securities, which B. Riley acquired in 2017, left the firm in September and joined Prospera Financial Services Inc.