St. Petersburg’s Raymond James Financial to acquire New Jersey firm

Raymond James Financial is bringing another investment firm under its umbrella.

The St. Petersburg wealth management company will acquire Jersey City, N.J.’s SumRidge Partners, the company announced Monday. SumRidge is a technology-focused market maker, or broker-dealer that trades in specific types of investments — in this case, corporate and municipal bonds and institutional preferred stocks.

SumRidge will operate within Raymond James’ fixed income capital markets division, adding 45 employees to an existing staff of 500 associates.

“SumRidge is an exciting combination of a strong team and advanced technology that will only enhance Raymond James’ position in a rapidly evolving fixed income and trading technology marketplace,” Horace Carter, Raymond James’ executive vice president and president of Fixed Income, said in a statement.

Tom O’Brien and Kevin Moran, who co-founded SumRidge in 2010, will become senior managing directors within the fixed income division.

“We are very excited to become a part of the Raymond James team,” Morano said in a statement. “We share a common vision for how to grow our business and we see tremendous opportunity for both firms in this partnership. Leveraging SumRidge’s technological strengths with Raymond James’ robust distribution will allow us to compete at the highest level.”

The deal is contingent on regulatory approval. Terms were not disclosed.