Nearly a year after LPL Financial LLC filed for an initial public stock offering, the company that counts more than 200 credit unions among its clients is consolidating one of its subsidiaries.
The broker-dealer said it will consolidate UVEST Financial Services Group Inc. onto its self-clearing platform. Credit union and bank investment programs currently with UVEST will remain part of the existing LPL Financial Institution Services division. The consolidation is scheduled to start in June and be completed by year-end.
LPL Financial said the move will be better positioned to make greater investments in technology, research, practice management, and back-office support in addition to creating operational efficiencies.
In June 2010, the broker-dealer filed a Form S-1 with the SEC for an offering that consisted of primary shares to be sold by LPL Financial and secondary shares to be sold by its existing minority shareholders. At the time, the company said it intended to use the net proceeds from the offering to pay off $1.4 billion in debt.
After announcing its plans to do so in 2006, LPL Financial acquired UVEST in 2007. A wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings Inc., the company serves more than 12,400 independent financial advisors.
