Merrill adds team with more than $1B in client assets

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has hired advisers managing more than $1 billion in assets, according to a statement released Thursday by the brokerage. A team with more $1 billion in assets and $11 million in production moved to Merrill's White Plains, N.Y., complex from UBS Financial Services Inc. on Sept. 27, Merrill spokeswoman Ana Sollitto said. That team comprises advisers Stephen Ruvituso, Lee Konopka, Robert Matluck and Todd Stankiewicz. Merrill also announced that adviser Robert Brust moved from Wells Fargo Advisors to the firm's Ponte Verda, Fla., office. Mr. Brust generated $871,605 in production on more than $110 million in client assets, Ms. Sollitto said. Erica Van Ross, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, confirmed Mr. Brust's departure, declining to comment further. A spokesman for UBS declined to comment. Also announced Thursday, Garry W. Bridgeman joined Morgan Stanley's Graystone Consulting unit as executive director, financial adviser and institutional consulting director in Atlanta on Sept. 26. Ms. Sollitto, the Merrill Lynch spokeswoman, confirmed Mr. Bridgeman's departure, declining to comment further. Mr. Bridgeman is a 34-year veteran of Merrill Lynch and generated $1.9 million in production over the past 12 months, Christy Jockle, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman, said in a statement.