United Capital picks up StanCorp group with $574 million

United Capital Financial Partners Inc. has added around $574 million in assets and five new offices as it benefits from StanCorp Financial Group Inc.'s decision to unwind its private client wealth management business. The total brings United Capital's assets under management to around $15 billion across 74 offices. The private client group, which was a relatively small portion of StanCorp's insurance and asset management business, comprised a number of advisers that the firm had acquired in the last 10 years. The total assets under management were $884 million at the end of 2014, roughly 3.3% of the company's total assets under administration, according to its annual report. A sale would be immaterial to earnings, the company said in the report. Not all StanCorp advisers joined or were given offers to join United Capital, according to Matt Brinker, senior vice president of development and acquisitions at United Capital. StanCorp had decided to sell the unit as part of a “strategic decision to prioritize investments in our other businesses,” said Jeff Hallin, vice president of investor relations at StanCorp, in a statement. United Capital agreed to buy the group's assets in January, according to SEC filings. The advisers who received an offer and accepted it joined United Capital last month, according to registration records. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed. The advisers who switched firms include Garth Scrivner and Sara Prada in Albuquerque, N.M.; Paul Messiter in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Duane Wimer in Indianapolis; John Wyckoff in Portland, Ore.; Erin Eddins in Lynnwood, Wash.; and Cheryl Bott in Tampa, Fla.