Administration November 3, 2002

Wells Acquires Financial Planning Services Firm

March 23, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Wells Fargo has signed a definitive agreement to acquire H.D. Vest, the nation's largest provider of financial services delivered through tax professionals.
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The acquisition is believed to be the first of its kind in the banking industry, according to the press release.

Based in Irving, Texas, H.D. Vest provides financial planning services through more than 6,000 tax and financial advisor independent contractors who manage over $16 billion in assets for some 1.8 million individuals, families and small businesses in all 50 states.

The acquisition requires approval from banking regulators and shareholders of H.D. Vest, but is expected to close in three months.  Wells will pay $21.03 in cash per share of H.D. Vest common stock and for each option of H.D. Vest.  H.D. Vest closed at $7/share on March 22. 

H.D. Vest will remain a separate business unit within Wells Fargo.

H.D. Vest currently offers tax professionals:

  • personal Web pages for their clients
  • an online advisor’s desktop
  • generic public web pages for the advisor’s firm.

They also offer web conferencing, training in financial planning, practice development tools and “multi-channel” customer service support.

– Nevin Adams   editors@plansponsor.com

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