MSSB team in N.Y. jumps ship to join surging HighTower

HighTower Advisors LLC last Tuesday announced that it had snapped up another team of advisers, this time from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Strata Wealth Management Group, an advisory group in Rye, N.Y., that manages $500 million in assets, changed its affiliation Feb. 12 from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to Chicago-based HighTower, according to a Strata Wealth Management partner, Roman Cioseks. He declined to reveal the terms of the acquisition, except to say that it was a stock-and-equity deal. A HighTower statement did not provide terms. Strata Wealth Management, which assumed its current structure in 2003, has had a long association with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. In fact, one of Strata's five partners, John Lang, 79, had been associated with Morgan Stanley for 40 years. Strata Wealth Management targets clients with at least $500,000 in investible assets. Mr. Ciosek said HighTower's partnership structure and open-architecture investing format, along with its range of research sources and ability to use multiple custodians, were the key selling points. “It's the open architecture within HighTower, and it's being able to practice fiduciary responsibility,” he said. “It's also the ability to have three different custodians, because it gives us the flexibility and safety.” Mr. Ciosek said he expects two more custodians to be made available to HighTower advisers soon. Asked what Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's reaction was, he said, “Not good, as you can imagine, but we're dealing with that.” Morgan Stanley Smith Barney spokeswoman Tricia Nestfield confirmed that Strata had cut its ties butdeclined to comment further. E-mail Hilary Johnson at hjohnson@investmentnews.com.