AdvisoryWorld Acquired by LPL Financial
AdvisoryWorld, a leading software provider for financial advisors, today announced that it will be acquired by LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA), the corporate parent of LPL Financial LLC.
LPL Financial is a leading retail investment advisory firm and the nation’s largest independent broker/dealer (Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine June 1996-2018).
“We’re excited by this opportunity and the tremendous benefits we see for our business, our clients, our employees, and for LPL Financial advisors,” said Michael Wilson, president, AdvisoryWorld. “LPL’s scale gives us access to more resources that will enable us to expand our core offerings and serve the financial services industry in new and different ways in the future.”
AdvisoryWorld will continue to function as a standalone company under the same name moving forward. The company will maintain its own distinct brand and operating model. In addition, all employees will continue to be led by Wilson, who joins LPL Financial as executive vice president and president of AdvisoryWorld.
“We remain committed to all of our customers,” Wilson continued. “We’re the same company today as we were before this acquisition, and we will carry forward our client-centric values, our culture of innovation, and the same entrepreneurial spirit that has made us successful for the last 30 years. LPL shares our passion for supporting advisors, so it’s a great fit for both parties strategically and culturally.”
AdvisoryWorld is widely recognized as a leading provider of highly customizable investment analytics, portfolio construction and proposal generation applications to the wealth management industry, as well as to broker/dealers and asset managers. The applications, calculation library, and business logic employed by AdvisoryWorld are proven in the marketplace, and the firm has a deep understanding of advisors’ needs.
LPL intends to integrate Advisory World’s capabilities into its proprietary ClientWorks platform for LPL Financial advisors at no cost to them. The transaction closed on Dec. 3, 2018.
More information about LPL Financial, including additional information about its acquisition of AdvisoryWorld, can be found at lpl.com.