The embattled financial services adviser and owner of Nadia Cavner Group, 2620 E. Normandy St., Ste. 108, sold her company last week and will serve in a temporary role during the transition.
Overland Park, Kan.-based Lawing Financial Inc. announced the purchase in a news release this morning. Lawing, which has had an office in Springfield since 2008, currently operates in town at 3271 E. Battlefield Road, Ste. 100.
Alex Greenwood, a spokesman for Lawing via Alexander G Public Relations LLC, declined to disclose terms of the transaction. He said Cavner would serve Lawing in a temporary role to help smooth the transition.
“Nadia Cavner will serve as a consultant to Lawing Financial and the clients during the transition,” Greenwood said, adding the company is not planning to hire Cavner beyond her work as a consultant.
Greenwood declined to say whether Cavner or Lawing sought the deal that closed Jan. 14. He said both offices would remain open and there were no plans in place to reduce Cavner’s staff of four.
The move adds roughly $300 million in assets under advisement in Springfield to Lawing Financial, which employs 90 investment advisers and manages nearly $3 billion in assets across six offices companywide.
With the purchase, the Springfield office ranks second in terms of revenues and assets under advisement, just ahead of Lawing’s Dallas office.
“The ability to serve more clients in the Springfield area has been a key part of our business growth strategy,” said Kerry Lawing, the firm’s CEO and president, in the release. “This acquisition is a natural step as we follow our plan to take advantage of opportunities to grow our existing presence in successful locations while seeking to open new offices in one new city every year for the next four to five years.”
This acquisition follows Lawing Financial’s entrance into the Denver area in May, and its entrance into the greater Minneapolis area in October.
“The timing of this opportunity in Springfield works well with our strategic plans to grow the firm,” Lawing said in the release. “Based on our years of success in the Springfield region, we have been considering various options for growth in the area. Timing of this opportunity was good for our firm and the team based in Springfield, as this acquisition nearly doubles our presence in this Missouri area."
Cavner declined a request for an interview and referred all questions to Greenwood. It is unclear whether the move had anything to do with the prominent Springfield financial adviser’s ability to sell securities. In April, Cavner pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony interstate stalking charge in Memphis, Tenn., acknowledging intentions to injure, harass or intimidate her college-age daughter’s ex-boyfriend Patrick McFarland.
In August, Cavner was sentenced to five years probation and six months of home detention.
According to securities regulations, a felony would statutorily disqualify Cavner from selling securities in the U.S. for a decade. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority spokeswoman Michelle Ong has said financial advisers can appeal FINRA’s disqualifications and licenses are not pulled until an independent board conducts a full review.
Anonymous sources who contacted Springfield Business Journal and media partner KSPR in November said Cavner’s regulatory hearing was held Nov. 7.
According to her broker profile at FINRA.org, Cavner remains licensed to sell securities. Cavner, who has passed Series 7, 24 and 63 exams, is not currently suspended or inactive with any regulator, according to the site.
FINRA’s Ong did not respond to requests for comment this morning by deadline.
