HighTower Network adds $300 million Merrill team

HighTower Advisors has snapped up a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch duo who previously managed about $300 million in client assets. Veteran advisers Jason Ezzell and Alec Fisher joined as a HighTower franchise in Roseville, Calif. They will operate as The Ezzell Group and receive technology, compliance and operational support in exchange for providing HighTower with a share of revenue. More: Will HighTower be the next Raymond James? The Ezzell Group is the fourth team to join the HighTower Network Advisors franchise model since it launched a year ago. Earlier this year, the firm added a $600 million Morgan Stanley & Co. team in Columbus, Ohio. HighTower chief executive Elliott Weissbluth has said that HighTower's strategy is shifting away from trying to build up its partnership platform, which offers advisers upfront money and equity stake in the firm, to focus more on its franchisee network model and its fee-for-service platform, HighTower Alliance.