LWBJ Financial LLC has sold its Premier Wealth Division and expanded its Capital Advisors Division, the West Des Moines-based financial services firm announced this morning.

With the sale of the wealth division, LWBJ will no longer provide insurance or investment advisory services, said Marvin Debner, who the firm announced this morning has been named managing partner.

“We found it was a relatively small unit,” said Debner, who said the firm will continue to provide estate and tax planning. “We found that many clients were shying away from us as a tax planning and CPA firm because of that perceived competition.”

Prior to joining LWBJ Financial as a senior partner in 2007, Debner was the managing partner in the Des Moines office of Deloitte and Touche. He replaces Jeff Bartling, who retired from the firm in December.

Ben Renzo, the former president of the wealth division, has moved a portion of the division, along with three employees, to Los Angeles, where it will continue to cater to professional athletes, Debner said. The division’s other principal, Adam Obrecht, has opened an investment advisory firm in Waukee.

At the same time, LWBJ’s Capital Advisors Division has formed its own broker/dealer unit to further expand in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and raising capital as part of its investment banking practice. The division has hired two investment banking professionals: Jim Eiler, formerly of Cybus Capital Markets, and Jim Mackay, who formerly led the investment banking division of DeWaay Capital Management.

The changes are the result of a comprehensive strategic planning process undertaken by the firm over the past several months, said JD Geneser, a senior partner with LWBJ Capital Advisors.

“Every step we are taking has been carefully thought out to better serve Iowa businesses,” Geneser said. “We have noticed a strong demand for investment banking services and want to meet it in the proper way. When combined with our traditional tax, accounting and consulting capabilities, we feel we are uniquely positioned to provide consultative investment banking to our market.”

With the changes, LWBJ will be slightly smaller, with a staff of about 60, which could grow by five to 10 people over the next year as demand requires, Debner said.

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