Advisor Software Inc. of Lafayette, Calif., has bought the registered investment adviser Advisor Partners LLC of Lafayette.
Neal Ringquist, the president and chief operating officer of Advisor Software, said in an interview that with the acquisition his firm will be able to move into managed account relationships more quickly than it would have on its own.
Advisor Partners focuses on money management and has three core products that let advisers outsource investment management, Ringquist said. It has a separately managed accounts program that tries to replicate the Standard & Poor's 500 without any taxable gains, by managing the underlying basket of securities and offsetting the gains and losses throughout the year. It also offers an exchange-traded-fund wrap account for advisers who want to outsource the investment management of smaller accounts, and a modeling program that provides the weights and picks the particular investments, while allowing the adviser to provide the ongoing management of the cash reporting through back-office relationships.
Andrew Rudd, the chairman and chief executive officer of Advisor Software, said in a press release: "Our acquisition of Advisor Partners is an ideal extension of our core strength — partnering with financial institutions and advisers to help investors achieve their financial goals. By expanding our capabilities with Advisor Partners' unique investment management programs, we will be able to offer clients our institutional-caliber wealth planning software as well as cutting-edge investment strategy alternatives."
The transaction was announced last week. The price was not disclosed.
