Mindy Diamond Quoted
By Andrew Osterland
After a fourth-quarter hiatus from adding new adviser teams, HighTower Advisors LLC is back in the market.
The private-equity-backed partnership of advisory practices Tuesday announced the addition of its largest team of advisers in the past six months, signing on the Sarian Group — a pair of Bank of America Merrill Lynch advisers managing $650 million in assets.
Mindy Diamond, the recruiter who placed the Sarian Group with HighTower, has seen a pick up in interest from advisers this year and expects a more active market in the coming months.
Another year has been peeled off the retention packages many wirehouse advisers received after the financial crisis, and the examples of teams such as the Sarian Group’s making the move to independence will likely give other advisers confidence to do the same, she suggested.
“The power of independence fuels itself,” Ms. Diamond said. “The more people like Greg Sarian move, the more it galvanizes the space.”