Advisers managing $300 million join Raymond James from Merrill Lynch

A group of advisers that oversees $300 million of client assets has moved to Raymond James Financial Inc. from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Joseph DiVestea and his associates have become part of the brokerage firm's New York metro complex, according to a statement Tuesday from Raymond James. The team is temporarily located in Danbury, Conn., and will move this spring into a new Raymond James office being constructed in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. The group, now called DiVestea Wealth Partners of Raymond James, includes Mark Mezzone, Maureen Macomber and Michael Rodriguez. They've joined the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based firm's employee broker-dealer unit, Raymond James & Associates. (More: See all the latest moves in the InvestmentNews Advisers on the Move database) “Here, we have the flexibility to brand ourselves as financial planners and showcase how we can differentiate ourselves from the competition,” Mr. DiVestea said in the statement. Mr. DiVestea began his financial services career in 1990 with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and then spent 17 years at Smith Barney before moving to Merrill Lynch in 2007. Mr. Mezzone, Ms. Macomber and Mr. DiVestea managed about $300 million in client assets at Merrill, according to the statement. Mr. Rodriguez recently joined the team. Raymond James Financial has about 7,100 financial advisers serving more than 2.9 million client accounts.