MET LIFE UNIT TO GET BROKER, HOPES IT PAYS: NATHAN & LEWIS READIES ITS SALE TO NEW ENGLAND LIFE

New England Life Insurance Co. is in the final stages of acquisition talks with Nathan & Lewis Securities Inc., an independent brokerage in New York, according to sources familiar with the companies.

The move is an effort by Boston-based New England, a subsidiary of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., to expand its own brokerage, New England Securities Corp., and transform its corporate culture away from sales and toward a broad financial planning model.

The broker-dealer provides clearing to New England’s 3,000 insurance agents.

The New England also owns several fund companies, including Oakmark Funds and Loomis Sayles & Co., while Met Life owns State Street Research and Management Co.

By adding Nathan & Lewis’s 750 reps, New England would have nearly 4,000 advisers – less than half the size of American Express Financial Advisors Inc. and SunAmerica Inc.

New England officials declined comment. Nathan & Lewis CEO Jay Lewis would not confirm talks with New England. He says he is currently “talking with people,” but “nothing is imminent.”

Nathan & Lewis has been courted by many companies: Sun America, American Express and Dime Bancorp. among them (InvestmentNews, Jan. 26).

The feisty Mr. Lewis knows he’s a sought-after commodity.

In November, he was apparently asking for $30 million, saying that the company’s book value was $25 million, says one entrepreneur who’s shopping for broker-dealers. He cited a list describing firms for sale distributed by a dealer in securities houses.

Mr. Lewis, 55 and a native New Yorker, is likely to take over the combined brokerages, observers believe. He has said he’s not ready to leave the securities business.