Financial service company Boston Private Financial Holdings has sold its 76-percent interest in Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sand Hill Advisors and its affiliate, Boston Private Value Investors (BPVI).

Originally purchased in 2000, Sand Hill was sold back to the management team of Sand Hill with the financial support of Fiduciary Network.

"We have enjoyed our tenure within the BPFH family," said Jane Williams, CEO of Sand Hill Advisors. "This is an amicable change in ownership which is in the best interest of our clients, our employees and all other stakeholders."

BPVI, originally purchased in 2001, was sold back to BPVI and renamed Granite Investment Advisors. The company will be 100-percent employee-owned and managed, and run out of the former BPVI headquarters in Concord, N.H.

"We are always vigilant about having the right affiliates that are aligned with our business model, and based on both BPVI’s size and overlap with other affiliates in the New England region, BPVI no longer fits within our long-term strategy for growth," said Jay Cromarty, CEO of BPFH’s Wealth Advisory and Investment Management Business. "We believe this amicable separation is in the best interests of BPVI customers and employees as well as BPFH shareholders."

In addition to the sale of BPVI, Scott B. Schermerhorn, former managing director of Choate Investment Advisors of Boston, has joined the firm in a "leadership role," the company said without elaborating.

Neither transaction is expected to have a material impact on BPFH earnings, the company said.