ON THE MOVE-Benjamin Edwards lands Wells advisers in New Jersey

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Benjamin F. Edwards & Co, a boutique brokerage with family ties to the old A.G. Edwards & Sons, landed four veteran advisers from Wells Fargo & Co to open a new office for the firm in New Jersey.

The new hires, who moved to Benjamin Edwards on Friday, are the second group in less than two weeks to join the St. Louis-based firm from Wells. Benjamin Edwards also recently added a team in the Kansas City area at the end of August.

"We were drawn to the entrepreneurial culture," said adviser Peter Tampellini, among the group who opened the new office in Northfield, New Jersey. "If you have a request or you have something you feel will make your clients better off, they're willing to entertain it."

Tampellini moved with advisers Robert Rothhouse, Teresa Zipf and Brian McRory, also formerly with Wells Fargo Advisors, the brokerage unit owned by Wells Fargo & Co.

The advisers were all legacy A.G. Edwards advisers, having joined Wells after the company in 2008 acquired Wachovia, which one year earlier acquired A.G. Edwards.

Tampellini spent almost two decades with his old firm, after starting with A.G. Edwards in 1993. He joined Benjamin Edwards as a senior vice president of investments and a branch manager for the new office.

Rothhouse, who joined Benjamin Edwards as a managing director of investments, had been with A.G. Edwards for three decades. McRory, a 26-year industry veteran, joined as a vice president of investments, while Zipf joined as a financial consultant.

Since its founding in 2008, Benjamin Edwards has expanded its adviser base by hiring dozens of legacy A.G. Edwards advisers from Wells Fargo. Since the start of the year, the firm has added at least 25 veteran advisers from Wells, based on moves tracked by Reuters.

Benjamin Edwards now has 95 financial consultants across the United States. The firm does not disclose advisers' individual assets under management.