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A&O Shearman advises LPL Financial Holdings in USD2.7 billion acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network

A&O Shearman advises LPL Financial Holdings in USD2.7 billion acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network
Published Date
Mar 31 2025

A&O Shearman advised LPL Financial Holdings Inc. in its USD2.7bn acquisition of Commonwealth Financial Network, the largest privately-held independent U.S. wealth management firm. Headquartered in Waltham, Mass., Commonwealth Financial provides integrated business solutions and services for approximately 2,900 financial advisors managing approximately USD285bn of brokerage and advisory assets.

LPL Financial Holdings (NASDAQ: LPLA), based in San Diego, is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the United States. The companies will accelerate the integration of Commonwealth’s Advisor platform, Advisor360°, into LPL’s ClientWorks operating system which currently serves its 29,000 financial advisors.

The transaction was announced on March 31, 2025 in a press release and is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

“We are delighted to have supported LPL Financial in its acquisition of Commonwealth Financial, two exceptional client-centric wealth management companies,” said A&O Shearman M&A partner Robert Cardone. “The work of the A&O Shearman team on this transaction illustrates the depth and versatility of the firm’s talented corporate practitioners.”

The A&O Shearman team that advised LPL Financial was led by M&A of counsel Stephen Besen and M&A partner Robert Cardone, and included M&A associate Aaron Swartzman, Antitrust partner Ben Gris, Financial Services Regulatory partner Hilary Sunghee Seo, Tax counsel John Hibbard, Debt Finance partner Gus Atiyah and Capital Markets partner Ryan Robski.

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