AmeriLife Group LLC, headquartered in Clearwater, Fla., has acquired a majority interest in Brookstone Capital Management, according to a news release.
The deal will create a combined organization with more than $3.5 billion in annual life, health and annuity premiums and $2.7 billion in assets under management (AUM), according to a press release.
Brookstone’s founder, Dean Zayed, will continue to serve as CEO of his firm, while also assuming the position of president of AmeriLife’s new Investment Advisory Services division. Brookstone will continue to operate from its Wheaton, Ill., location.
Scott R. Perry, CEO of AmeriLife, said in the news release that the acquisition of a majority stake in Brookstone was a major step in his firm’s strategic goal of providing full-service insurance, retirement and legacy planning services to its agents, advisors and clients.
“Brookstone’s comprehensive investment management platform, education and training resources, and operational and marketing support enable advisors to start and grow a successful investment advisory practice,” he said. “These capabilities will be tremendous assets for our thousands of insurance and annuity-based career and independent agents who are looking to expand their businesses to include investment advisory services.”
Brookstone has a network of over 400 affiliated advisors and firms providing more than 24,000 pre-retirees with investment strategy and asset management services.
Zayed said that by integrating his firm with AmeriLife, affiliated advisors and agents would have access to a broader set of financial strategies to meet their clients’ financial needs.
In an email, Zayed said that he attributed his firm’s rapid growth to a series of model portfolios added to the Brookstone platform that are managed internally. As a result, he said, affiliated advisors are free to focus on cultivating new client relationships and maintaining existing ones.
He also said that another factor contributing to Brookstone’s growth was a new proprietary advisor portal that allowed affiliated advisors to easily manage all aspects of their client relationships, from account opening, to trading and performance reporting.
“Whereas most other TAMPS work through the broker-dealer channels, Brookstone has worked in the independent insurance channel,” he said.
A turnkey asset management program (TAMP) allows independent financial advisors, typically fiduciaries, to outsource the management of some or all of their clients’ assets.
“(Brookstone) has successfully been able to help insurance agents add fee-based managed money to their existing practice,” he said. “Brookstone-affiliated insurance agents who were just selling annuity and life insurance products now transform themselves into holistic financial advisors able to handle all aspects of a client’s financial needs."
Zayed said that was the reason the AmeriLife partnership with Brookstone was strategic in nature.
"They have tens of thousands of affiliated insurance agents and they have not had a dedicated RIA/TAMP partner until now,” he said.
Zayed also said that AmeriLife would now be able to direct their agents to Brookstone, which could help those agents add managed money to their respective practices.
“These synergies will certainly help accelerate Brookstone’s growth and allow them to add more services and resources to their platform,” Zayed said. “It is truly a partnership that creates infinite solutions!”
Brookstone Capital Management, established in 2006, is a fee-based, independent asset manager.
Founded in 1971, AmeriLife is an independent company that develops, markets and distributes annuity, life and health insurance solutions for insurance agents and brokers.
