D.A. Davidson, Crowell seal deal

Full-service brokerage and money management firm Crowell Weedon & Co. has completed its merger with D.A. Davidson & Co., the companies announced today. When the combination is operationally finished, which is expected within the next six months, Crowell will be folded into the Individual Investor Group, a division of D.A. Davidson, which will then have roughly 460 financial consultants, including the 145 advisers from Crowell. Davidson will benefit from Crowell's expertise in private wealth management, increased scale, and expansion into the Western U.S., according to chairman and CEO Bill Johnstone. Nearly all of Crowell's business is with private clients, while just 60% of Davidson business is with private clients, Mr. Johnstone said. “We'll bring some tools in management accounts which will be useful to Crowell, and they'll bring some research capabilities that will be useful to us,” he said. In terms of scale, Mr. Johnstone cited the conventional wisdom within the industry. “The regional-firm community sees scale as important because fixed costs, whether it's regulation or compliance, are increasing,” he said. “We want to cover those costs as effectively as possible.” Los Angeles-based Crowell, with its more than $9 billion in assets under management and administration, will act as a new regional hub for Davidson as it continues its western expansion. Andrew Crowell will continue to manage the Crowell Weedon division, another reason the Davidson brass felt comfortable with the merger. “One of the attractions is that they have a strong management, and we want to maintain that management,” Mr. Johnstone said. “I don't see a Davidson manager moving out to L.A.” The transaction marks D.A. Davidson's largest partnership in the firm's 78-year history.