LPL plans to add Mutual Service Corp., Associated Financial and Waterstone. Linsco/Private Ledger (LPL) plans to acquire three of Pacific Life Insurance's broker-dealers, boosting the number of its independent financial advisors by 2,200 to 9,900.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of June 2007. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Bulking up

"The acquisition of Mutual Service, Associated Financial and Waterstone Financial is a major cornerstone for our growth strategy in an industry where, increasingly, size and scale matters," says LPL's chairman and CEO Mark Casady. "These three new entities will continue to operate under their current brands, management and Pershing clearing and operational platforms."

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Pacific Life will hang on to its other broker-dealers M.L. Stern & Co. and United Planners' Financial Services of America.

Boston- and San Diego-based LPL has been a planning an initial public offering for the past few years. According to media reports, financial analysts see the deal with Pacific Life as a pot sweetener in the run-up to that event.

Last year LPL bought UVEST, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of third-part investment and insurance products to community and regional banks. In 2004 LPL bought Hartford, Conn.-based Phoenix' retail brokerage.

In 2005 private-equity firms Hellman & Friedman and Texas Pacific Group took a majority stake in LPL. -FWR

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