Boston Private eyes new partners

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston Private Financial Holdings (BPFH.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) wants to expand its geographic reach by acquiring banks or advisers in Texas or Washington, the company's president said.

The company, which already owns 15 independently operated financial services firms around the United States, has a greater choice than ever before as the financial crisis forces many people to rethink how they run businesses.

Still Timothy Vaill, the Boston-based company's president and chairman, is in a hurry to do a deal.

"I want to find a person who has an established record and an operating history, someone who has built his own Rolodex and brand equity and is maybe looking for some liquidity," Vaill said at the Reuters Wealth Management Summit.

The company owns firms on both east and west coasts but Vaill would like to crack the Texas market and be established in the Washington, D.C. and Atlanta areas. "I'm not there, but I would like to be," he said.

Vaill is casting a wide net for small private banks, wealth advisers or investment managers, but said he will be patient. "We usually have a long courtship period," he said.

Tips about available firms usually come through a company's normal contacts, Vaill said. This summer The Carlyle Group, a prominent private equity firm, made a $75 million investment in Boston Private.

"Investment dollars follow smart people and I want to be in these areas," Vaill said.

Mergers and acquisitions in the wealth management area are expected to pick up pace now that many big players are considering spinning off these types of units and many small players cannot survive on their own any more.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by Richard Chang)