Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Financial firms’ merger ‘born out of success’
Hoover Financial Advisors and Villanova Financial Services join forces
MALVERN » Two area financial planning companies have announced they have joined forces.
The merger of Hoover Financial Advisors, PC, and Villanova Financial Services was effective Oct. 1, and is designed to provide financial strength and address succession planning.
“My objective from day one has been to have a company that would continue to develop, prosper and thrive over time. The partnership helps provide this sustainability,” said Peter K. Hoover, CFP, CEO and founder of Hoover Financial Partners.
In making the joint announcement, Hoover and William B. Mullin, CFP, president and founder of Villanova Financial Services, said the company continues to operate as Hoover Financial Advisors and remains at its present Malvern address — 112 Moores Road.
The combined assets of the newly-company exceed $775 million, according to a press release. In addition, Charles Schwab & Co., which served both companies prior to the merger, will stay on as asset custodian.
“Ultimately this is about planning for our clients’ future and our future for the next 20plus years,” Mullin said. “This merger is born out of success. We were both doing well, but to get clients to the next level, we have to get to the next level, and it’s happening.”
The formal merger process took only a couple of months, but the partners had been unofficially talking about a merger for several years — ever since they were introduced by mutual business associates.
“We have been meeting for lunch or breakfast for the last few years, walking through the idea. In April of this year for the
“Ultimately this is about planning for our clients’ future and our future for the next 20-plus years.” – William B. Mullin, CFP, president and founder of Villanova Financial Services
first time I told him ‘I think I’m ready to do it,’” Mullin added. “I thought it made really good sense and Pete said ‘done.’”
“We had been talking since 2011 about doing something together, but the time wasn’t right for him,” Hoover said. “His business model and mine are identical and his office was two miles away from my office — we had a lot of synergies and economies.”
Hoover, who has been in the financial planning industry since 1981 — opened Hoover Financial Advisors in 2005. Mullin started Villanova Financial Services in 2002.
“For six years, big picture wise, I knew we were in synch. Everything he did, I did,” Hoover said, adding that when they put a list together of details about the two businesses, they saw how similar they were. “All the way down to the copier, the vast majority of them we were in synch on. We saw
how very similar we are but didn’t realize it before. We were in tune from day one.”
“Our vision and integration matched well. We have the same planning outlook. I could not have picked a better partner. As a human I could not have chosen a better person,” Mullin said.
Both men agree the merger will strengthen the company and reflects a need they both felt to address succession planning in their businesses. For Mullin, the need to plan for the future was reinforced when he faced a life event.
“Last summer I lost a dear friend — and it made me realize my own mortality and that to take care of my clients for the next 20 years I needed to plan for the future,” Mullin said.
Hoover said he had been having similar thoughts about the need to plan for the firm’s future.
“You can’t be in this business for 36 years without thinking what would happen if something happened to you,” he said.
The four-member staff from Villanova Financial Services has relocated to the
Moores Road headquarters, bringing the total number of employees to 22. That number includes five certified financial planners.
Hoover first took office space in the Moores Road location in 2005, and has expanded three times. Hoover Financial Advisors now occupies 75 percent of the building. The last space expansion occurred just before the merger was finalized, Hoover added.
“We needed the space if he (Mullin) was coming, but I wouldn’t take it unless he was coming,” Hoover said.
“He signed the lease before the deal was done. That was a pretty bold move. But we both had that much confidence that it was going to work.”
For more information about Hoover Financial Advisors visit http://hfaplanning.com .