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VOL. 127 | NO. 19 | Monday, January 30, 2012

Morgan Keegan Advisers Head to Fla.

By Andy Meek

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More than 75 top advisers and executives from Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. are heading to the Florida headquarters of their company’s soon-to-be-official new owner, Raymond James Financial Inc.

Meetings are scheduled Monday, Jan. 30, and Tuesday, Jan. 31. Retention payouts will be one topic on the agenda, following the deal announced earlier this month for Raymond James to buy Morgan Keegan for $930 million.

Raymond James delivered details of the proposed retention packages to eligible Morgan Keegan advisers Wednesday, Jan. 25. According to Raymond James, the awards will be paid within two weeks of the closing date of the merger, which is expected to happen on or about April 1.

One source told The Daily News – and a trade publication also has reported – that Morgan Keegan advisers producing more than $1 million will get as much as 70 percent of their trailing 12-month production as part of the retention payouts.

Advisers producing less than $300,000 aren’t expected to be offered retention payments. Advisers producing between half a million and $1 million will get as much as 50 percent; 40 percent for those producing between $400,000 and $500,000; and 30 percent for those between $300,000 and $400,000.

The letters delivered to Morgan Keegan advisers Wednesday were signed by the leadership teams of the Raymond James and Morgan Keegan private client groups.

“The range of advisers receiving these retention award offers is considerably wider than industry norms,” said Raymond James Chief Operating Officer Dennis Zank, who’s leading the effort to integrate the two firms, in a statement released by the firm. “We are offering five graduated levels of awards based on annual production, beginning with advisers whose trailing 12-month production is at least $300,000.

“We believe that the retention being offered to Morgan Keegan advisers is similar to retention offers in recent industry transactions of this type. While industry norms suggest that retention offers are made only to advisers with more than $500,000 in production, Raymond James and Morgan Keegan managements have determined to offer retention to advisers with $300,000 or more in gross production.”

At each financial adviser’s discretion, part of any cash award can be taken in restricted stock units of Raymond James. The advisers also will be eligible to participate in Raymond James’ benefits program, which includes profit sharing, employee stock ownership and 401(k) and stock purchase plans, among other things.

“We are hopeful each and every one of the Morgan Keegan advisers will choose to stay and together help us create a firm that truly lives up to the promise of being the premier alternative to Wall Street,” said Tash Elwyn, president of Raymond James & Associates. “We value their loyalty and appreciate that this loyalty helped make Morgan Keegan the successful and well-respected company it is today.”

The Morgan Keegan advisers’ trip follows one made by Morgan Keegan branch managers to the Raymond James headquarters in recent days. They met with Raymond James department heads, corporate executives and private client leadership.

Accompanying the Morgan Keegan branch managers was Dick Ferguson and Bill Geary, president of Morgan Keegan’s Private Client Group and co-head of the Private Client Group, respectively.

In early February, two more groups of between 300 and 400 Morgan Keegan advisers will make the trip.

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RECORD TOTALS DAY WEEK YEAR
PROPERTY SALES 92 118 6,266
MORTGAGES 109 153 10,261
FORECLOSURE NOTICES 0 24 3,352
BUILDING PERMITS 0 179 16,676
BANKRUPTCIES 79 141 7,220
BUSINESS LICENSES 24 40 2,483
UTILITY CONNECTIONS 78 190 9,753
MARRIAGE LICENSES 28 75 2,276

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