NEW YORK, April 5, 2013: Cetera Financial Group, one of the nation's largest privately held, independent broker-dealer and investment adviser families, announced today that it intends to acquire Tower Square Securities and Walnut Street Securities from MetLife, Inc. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions
Tower Square Securities and Walnut Street Securities, which are independent broker-dealer affiliates of MetLife, together had approximately $25 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2012. The Tower Square Securities and Walnut Street Securities advisors will join Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, one of four broker-dealers owned by Cetera Financial Group. After the close of the transaction, Los Angeles-based Cetera Financial Group will serve more than 7,000 advisors and have more than $130 billion in total client assets.
Morgan Lewis advised MetLife on the sale. The Morgan Lewis team was led by Business and Finance partner R. Alec Dawson and included Business and Finance partner Sheryl Orr, Investment Management and Securities Industry partner John Ayanian, Investment Management associate Nicholas Losurdo, and Business and Finance associates James Fang and Monica Shaw.
For further information, please see MetLife's press release.