New owners visit local brokerage
There will be a change in a recent business acquisition. But not what most people would think.
Looking at a headline declaring no change in operation and announcing his firm’s acquisition of Parker/Hunter Inc., James Wolitarsky, chief executive officer of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC of Philadelphia said there will be a change.
“We will increase value to our clients and the community,’ he said, adding there will be no change in management at the Uniontown branch of Parker/Hunter.
Wolitarsky and visited the local office Thursday afternoon where they met staff and with Stephen A. Peters, Parker/Hunter senior vice president and Uniontown branch manager.
“We are taking two great firms with a lot in common with the same values and traditions. Both firms have a lot of wrinkles (alluding to their respective ages – Parker/Hunter’s roots go back 102 years and Janney 173 years) and that translates into a lot of client service,’ Wolitarsky said.
Parker/Hunter Inc. announced its sale to Janney on Tuesday. Neither firm disclosed terms of the sale.
The local office, Peters said, which has eight professionals and four administrative persons, will remain open.
He explained negotiations between the two firms have been going on since last May.
“We have had offers before and we always said we weren’t for sale. But our respective chairmans serve together on a Wall Street round table and when Janney made the offer, our board said, ‘Let’s take it to the next level,’ and see what they are talking about,’ Peters said. Himself a board member, Peters explained the two firms “share the same vision, the same values and the same culture.
“They bring a lot to the table that we don’t have. They have a very large research department and a trust company.’
“Our employee-owned company has witnessed and survived two world wars, the 1929 stock market crash and ensuing Depression, multiple recessions, other financial upheavals and, recently, terrorism. We have good reason to celebrate a century of service to clients and anticipate another 100 years of strong client and community relationships,’ Robert W. Kampmeinert, Parker/Hunter chairman and chief executive officer who also visited the local office Thursday, said. Parker/Hunter operates 21 offices staffed by about 130 financial advisors who serve about 45,000 clients in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Janney has 80 offices, about 900 financial consultants and a national client base of more than 325,000 people. Its offices stretch from Massachusetts to Florida.
The Uniontown Parker/Hunter was founded more than 70 years ago and has occupied offices in the National City Bank Building and for the past decade at 43 S. Beeson Boulevard.
“This was originally a Kay, Richards & Co. office,’ Peters said. Kay, Richards opened in 1902 in the Union Trust Building in downtown Pittsburgh. In 1928, McKelvy and Co. began assisting clients with investments, just one year before the worst crash in stock market history. Upon closing, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, Parker/-Hunter will operate as a subsidiary of Janney until later this year, when it will be completely absorbed, James Wolitarsky, Janney’s chief executive officer, said.
Janney’s parent company is Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co.
, is among the 15 largest mutual insurance companies in the country, with more than $12 billion in assets.