Raymond James Financial : completes its purchase of Producers Choice

August 6, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) announced the closing Monday of its acquisition of The Producers Choice, LLC, a private insurance and annuity marketing organization based in Troy, Michigan.

Producers Choice and its 60 associates are now part of Raymond James Insurance Group (RJIG) and remain in their current Troy location.

"Enhancing the support services we offer financial advisors so they can serve the holistic planning needs of their clients has been an evergreen priority," said Scott Stolz, senior vice president of Raymond James Private Client Group Investments & Wealth Solutions. "This addition of the Producers Choice team with whom we have worked for almost a decade, brings more life insurance and annuity specialists to our firm to support advisors, while also adding a small external wholesale segment we believe can leverage our internal resources for future growth."

Former Producers Choice principals, Blair O'Connor and Dwight Eberts, are remaining with the firm, based in Troy. O'Connor, now Senior Vice President, Sales, will oversee the newly expanded sales group within RJIG and Eberts, now Vice President, Sales will manage the outside distributor channel.

"Blair, Dwight and their team are a welcome addition and we are extremely pleased with how smoothly the transition to become part of the Raymond James family has been," added Stolz.