Former elite Merrill Lynch team goes independent

An adviser and his five-member team have left Merrill Lynch’s private banking and investment group to create their own RIA.

Xerxes Mullan and his group are operating as Avestar Capital, based in New York, according to a released statement. While not disclosing the assets under management that Mullan managed at Merrill, Dynasty Financial Partners, the platform with which Avestar works with and which announced the move, said that it “works with independent financial advisory firms with a minimum of $300 million in client assets.”

Joining Mr. Mullan at the firm from Merrill are Tonya Smoake, its chief operating officer, Sanjeet Dass, vice president – investments, Jennifer Wolf, vice president – financial planning, and clients services analysts Alexa Cark and Sonia Krauss.

Mr. Mullan joined Merrill in 2003. He said that he intends Avestar Capital to be a a global multi-family office and wealth advisory business focused on serving entrepreneurs, C Level executives and entrepreneurial professionals.

“In particular, the U.S.-India cross border planning is a very active market for us. As an independent firm, we are now in a position to simplify their financial lives by offering one of the most advanced platform of services, research and products available,” he said in the statement.