ACQUISITIONS

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Business Combinations [Abstract]

ACQUISITIONS

ACQUISITIONS

Acquisitions announced and completed during the six months ended March 31, 2021

In December 2020, we announced and completed our acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of NWPS Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively “NWPS”), doing business as NWPS and Northwest Plan Services. As an independent provider of retirement plan administration, consulting, actuarial and administration services, the addition of NWPS allows us to expand our retirement services offerings, including retirement plan administration services, to advisors and clients. For purposes of certain acquisition-related financial reporting requirements, the NWPS acquisition was not considered a material acquisition. NWPS has been integrated into our Private Client Group (“PCG”) segment and its results of operations have been included in our results prospectively from the closing date of December 24, 2020.

The NWPS acquisition resulted in the addition of $139 million of goodwill and $96 million of identifiable intangible assets during the six months ended March 31, 2021. The goodwill associated with this acquisition primarily represents synergies from combining NWPS with our existing businesses. The identifiable intangible assets primarily relate to client relationships and have a weighted-average useful life of 24.8 years.

In March 2021, we completed our acquisition of all of the outstanding ownership interests of Financo, LLC and its subsidiaries (collectively “Financo”), an investment bank focused on the consumer sector. The addition of Financo allows us to further grow our investment banking capabilities in the consumer and retail space, both domestically and internationally. For purposes of certain acquisition-related financial reporting requirements, the Financo acquisition was not considered a material acquisition. Financo has been integrated into our Capital Markets segment and its results of operations have been included in our results prospectively from the closing date of March 30, 2021.

The Financo acquisition resulted in the addition of $30 million of goodwill and $9 million of identifiable intangible assets during the six months ended March 31, 2021. The goodwill associated with this acquisition primarily represents synergies from combining Financo with our existing businesses. The goodwill associated with Financo is generally deductible for tax purposes over 15 years. The identifiable intangible assets primarily relate to client relationships and have a weighted-average useful life of 9 months. Due to the timing of the close of this acquisition, certain information is not yet available and the amounts of goodwill and intangible assets are considered provisional. We believe the information currently available provides a reasonable basis for estimating the fair value of these assets. However, these provisional estimates may be adjusted upon the availability of new information regarding facts and circumstances which existed at the acquisition date. We expect to finalize this valuation by the end of our 2021 fiscal year.

See Notes 2 and 10 of our 2020 Form 10-K and Note 11 of this Form 10-Q for additional information about our goodwill and identifiable intangible assets, including the related accounting policies.

Acquisition-related expenses

Certain acquisition and integration costs associated with these acquisitions were included in “Acquisition and disposition-related expenses” during fiscal 2021 on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income. Such costs primarily included legal and other professional fees.