Baird merging with Pacific Northwest firm that has 85 advisers

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. has agreed to merge its regional brokerage operation, one of the largest in the U.S., with a Seattle-based firm that manages $10 billion. Baird's merger with McAdams Wright Ragen Inc. stands to increase its adviser head count, now 725, by nearly 12% with the addition of MWR's 85 advisers. Paul Purcell, Baird's chairman and chief executive, said the merger also allows the regional brokerage to expand its footprint in the Pacific Northwest, where it currently has a Portland, Ore., office. Terms of the deal, announced Thursday, were not disclosed. The Milwaukee-based brokerage has been on a hiring spree in recent years, announcing this year that it was adding two branch managers and a group of advisers with $275 million in combined assets in Kansas City, Mo., Dallas and Reston, Va., from UBS Wealth Management Americas and Wells Fargo Advisors. The firm brought in 16 teams with roughly $2.9 billion in assets in 2013, data from InvestmentNews' Advisers on the Move database show. Baird manages more than $100 billion for clients.