Skip to content

LPL Nabs $1.1 Billion NPH Hybrid

LPL Financial LLC, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer, announced that Discovery Financial Centers Inc. has joined its broker-dealer and registered investment advisory platforms.

Minnesota-based Discovery Financial, which was formerly affiliated with National Planning Corporation (NPC), oversees $1.1 billion in client assets. The firm was co-founded by president and CEO Doug Ritter 25 years ago and is currently comprised of 19 advisors that focus on financial and retirement planning.

Ritter’s business partners are Tim Kelly and Matt Hardyman. The Discovery team includes three father/son advisor teams including Jeff and Tom Berg, Gene and Scott Burns, and Ritter and his son David. Partner Matt Hardyman is the son of retired co-founder Bill Hardyman.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the LPL family,” said Ritter. “When the acquisition of NPC was announced, we went in search of a firm that would be the right cultural fit …We were extremely impressed by LPL and appreciated the firm’s size, scale, financial stability, and the relationships we developed.”

LPL Financial announced over the summer that it purchased the independent broker-dealer network of National Planning Holdings, which includes NPC, for an initial purchase price of $325 million. LPL will make a contingent payment between $0 and $123 million in the first half of 2018, based on the level of NPH’s business that onboards onto its platform.

LPL Financial is a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA) and oversees approximately $566 billion in brokerage and advisory assets as of October 31, 2017. The company provides proprietary technology, comprehensive clearing and compliance services, practice management programs and training, and independent research to more than 14,000 financial advisors and over 700 financial institutions.

Click here to visit The DI Wire directory page.