ON THE MOVE: United Capital adds Harold Brown team

(Reuters) - Three veteran advisers from Harold C. Brown & Co who managed about $240 million in client assets have left the firm to join United Capital Financial Advisers, the firm said on Thursday.

Peter Grogan, Will Kelly and Mimi Schanzlin are the latest to leave the New York-based broker-dealer Harold C. Brown & Co, which is closing its doors after roughly 80 years in the business.

"They connected with us a couple of years ago when Harold C. Brown as an entity was trying to figure out in what direction they were going to take their company," Matt Brinker, senior vice president of acquisitions at United Capital, said in an interview.

"Internally there were disparate visions on how they wanted to be structured and service their clients," Brinker said. "The team that we partnered with saw the future of the industry oriented toward wealth counseling and financial planning."

United Capital does not own or operate a broker-dealer, which the firm said allows it to be free from any push to sell proprietary securities products. The company caters to fee-only firms, focused more on the planning side of wealth management, Brinker said.

"We always feel like our business shouldn't be about investment returns," said Kelly, who had been at Harold C. Brown & Co for more than a decade before making the move. "We're absolute believers in the fee-based culture."

Grogan, Kelly and Schanzlin are the 36th team to join United Capital, which was founded in 2004 and now has about $16 billion in assets under advisement. Brinker said the company has set a goal of acquiring anywhere from $12 million to $18 million in revenue a year.

Two former Harold C. Brown & Co advisers left the firm to set up independent firms affiliated with Raymond James Financial Inc last month. Deborah Stauring of Winthrop Financial and Michael Pratt of Pratt Collard Advisory Partners joined Raymond James' Registered Investment Advisors division in Buffalo, New York.

Stauring and Pratt managed about $160 million and $108 million, respectively, in client assets at Harold C. Brown & Co. For details. [ID:nN1E7BI04A]

(Reporting by Ashley Lau; editing by Andre Grenon)