Crown Life to Sell Its Financial Unit

SAN DIEGO — Crown Life Insurance of Canada said Thursday that it plans to sell its San Diego-based Private Ledger Financial Services subsidiary, one of the nation’s largest networks of independent stockbrokers.

Founded in 1972, Private Ledger serves about 700 brokers who pay the organization monthly fees for stock trade clearing, marketing and investigating potential investments. Its brokers have 352 branch offices in 45 states.

Crown would not disclose its asking price for Private Ledger but said it wants to at least recoup its $10-million investment in the securities firm. Crown Vice President Jeff Feeney said his company hopes to complete the sale in three to six months.

In a letter to brokers last month, Private Ledger President Phillips Montross hinted that the firm’s executives might attempt a management buyout. Montross was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Has Been Profitable

Crown acquired Private Ledger in 1984 from American Principals Holdings of Del Mar, an investment firm that was dogged by legal problems and has since gone out of business. The Securities and Exchange Commission had accused APHI officials of unlawfully co-mingling investor funds.

Private Ledger, whose brokers sold some of APHI’s limited partnership investments, was drawn into a class-action investor lawsuit brought against APHI. Private Ledger last year settled its share of the claims for $1 million, Feeney said.

Even so, Private Ledger has been profitable three of the four years since its acquisition, Feeney said. Private Ledger reported pretax income of $1.6 million on $42.8 million in revenue for 1987.