Stifel Financial is selling the legacy Sterne Agee businesses it acquired last year, signaling a turnaround in its plans to ramp up its global wealth business.

Stifel Financial is selling Sterne Agee’s legacy independent brokerage, clearing and RIA businesses – just over a year after buying them – to INTL FCStone, the US-listed global financial services company.

The businesses involved in the transaction are: Sterne Agee Financial Services; Sterne Agee Clearing; Sterne Agee Leach; Sterne Agee Asset Management; and Sterne Agee Investment Advisory Services.

St Louis, MO-based Stifel has made a number of notable acquisitions in recent years. The decision to acquire the Sterne Agee Group in February 2015 year was a strong signal that it wanted to bolster its global wealth management franchise (see a report on the announcement here).

Indeed the move boosted its global wealth management team by 35 per cent to some 2,800 financial advisors at the time. INTL FCStone said it plans to hire “substantially all” of Sterne Agee’s “support professionals,” while adding $11 billion in client assets, some 100,000 accounts and 50 correspondent clearing relationships.

“Last year we successfully integrated the private client group branches and institutional fixed income business from our Sterne Agee acquisition,” said Ronald Kruszewski, chairman and chief executive at Stifel. “We are pleased to have found an acquirer in INTL FCStone who is committed to these businesses and the professionals in the Birmingham community.”

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in July. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, although the sale consideration will amount to roughly the tangible net asset value of the combined entities after a financial resturcuting, according to a statement.

“The Sterne Agee clearing business is a well-respected franchise that provides us with a strong platform to grow our clearing and related securities activities,” said Charles Lyon, head of INTL FCStone's securities division. “The independent wealth management business provides us with an excellent foothold in a segment of retail wealth management that is growing and should lead to additional opportunities in that space.”

“This acquisition fulfills a strategic objective allowing us to clear securities for our customers. We believe that the securities industry has rapidly consolidated, providing an opportunity for a well-capitalized, credible mid-market clearer,” added Sean O'Connor, chief executive at INTL FCStone. “This acquisition will allow us to provide execution, market intelligence and post trade clearing across almost all asset classes in almost every market.”