SWS Group, the Dallas-based financial services holding company, has acquired Californian private client advisor M L Stern & Co and its Tower Asset Management unit, from a subsidiary of Pacific Life Insurance Company. The purchase price was not disclosed. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, M L Stern specialises in fixed income bonds and retail wealth management. The firm has additional offices in Carmel, Las Vegas, Rancho Bernardo, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. The company was founded in 1980 as an independent brokerage and a subsidiary of Pacific Life Insurance Company acquired an 80 per cent stake in 1999 and the remainder in 2003. M L Stern now has 112 financial advisors serving high net worth clients and approximately $4 billion in customer assets under custody. Tower Asset Management, a fee-based investment advisor managing individual stock, bond and mutual fund portfolios, has an additional $450 million in customer assets under management. When completed, the transaction will double the size of SWS's private client advisor network and re-establish SWS in the asset management business. SWS Group president and chief executive Donald Hultgren said: "We believe this combination will significantly benefit all parties while meeting our stated objectives of growing both organically and through acquisitions. Going forward our combined private client groups will be positioned in two of the nation's most dynamic state economies – Texas and California." Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, SWS Group offers a broad range of investment and financial services through its subsidiaries. SWS subsidiaries include broker Southwest Securities, FSB, one of the largest community banks in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and SWS Financial Services, a broker-dealer serving independent securities brokers and their clients.