(Bloomberg) — B. Riley Monetary Inc. agreed to promote a portion of its wealth-management enterprise to Stifel Monetary Corp. for as a lot as $35 million in money, the newest in a sequence of asset gross sales geared toward chopping the money-losing funding agency’s debt load.
The transaction doesn’t embrace B. Riley’s roughly 190 unbiased advisers or its 90 tax professionals, the corporate stated in a press release Friday. The ultimate worth will probably be based mostly on the variety of advisers that make the transfer, with as many as 50 of them — together with their related buyer accounts — anticipated to hitch Stifel early subsequent 12 months.
The accounts transferring signify complete belongings beneath administration of about $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion as of Sept. 30.
Shares of B. Riley have tumbled lately as its investments soured and US authorities probed a few of its enterprise offers and disclosures. The Los Angeles-based agency additionally missed a deadline for submitting its second-quarter monetary statements, that are nonetheless pending. Chief Government Officer Bryant Riley and his firm have stated there’s been no wrongdoing they usually’re cooperating with authorities.
“The previous 12 months has proved disruptive to our wealth-management enterprise, with rivals profiting from the noise surrounding our principal investments enterprise,” Bryant Riley stated within the assertion. “We determined to take a proactive strategy for many who wished a recent begin and located a well-respected associate in Stifel.”
Shares of the corporate superior 0.8% in early New York buying and selling. They tumbled 72% this 12 months by means of Thursday.
Final month, B. Riley struck two offers to lift money, together with divesting rights to its secure of shopper manufacturers for $236 million. The corporate additionally agreed to promote a majority stake in its Nice American enterprise to funds managed by Oaktree Capital Administration LP.
The asset gross sales may assist B. Riley bolster its steadiness sheet because it wrestles with a debt load that totaled about $2 billion at midyear. The corporate suspended its dividend in August to place a precedence on chopping leverage, and just lately renegotiated its key mortgage with phrases that included paying down the steadiness and terminating a revolving credit score line.
