Deals & People November 14, 2024

Alera Group Continues M&A Run With SRPC Acquisition

The insurance-backed aggregator adds Peter Klinkmueller and Steve Boudreau’s Strategic Retirement Plan Consultants.

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Alera Group Inc. has added to its growing retirement plan advisement team with the acquisition of Strategic Retirement Plan Consultants Inc., according to a Thursday announcement.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based aggregator will add to its Northeast presence in retirement plans with the acquisition of Boston-area SRPC, which oversees about $800 million in assets under advisement nationally.

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SRPC is run by Peter Klinkmueller and Steve Boudreau, who have worked together since 2016; they will continue their practice as affiliated with the Waterford Group, an Alera Group company focused on retirement plan services and based in Rochester, New York.

Klinkmueller previously worked for Commonwealth Financial Network and ADP Inc.; Boudreau worked for Marsh & McLennan Agency, a Marsh company, and Deutsche Asset Management. SRPC’s services include plan design, vendor selection and management, employee education, fee and service benchmarking, and fiduciary services.

This marks the seventh acquisition Alera has made in the last two years, including a September deal for Advanced Capital Group and the acquisition late last year of the Fraser Group. Christian Mango, executive vice president and national practice leader of retirement plan services, has also brought on experts in large retirement plan advisement and financial wellness.

“For decades, Peter and Steve have set the standard for dedicated service to plan sponsors,” Mango said in a statement. “Their work in the Northeast both augments our fast-growing retirement-plan business in the region and complements Alera Group’s strong presence in the Boston-area employee-benefits market.” 

The Alera Group has $1.4 billion in gross revenue from businesses including property and casualty insurance, employee benefits, wealth services and retirement plan solutions. The firm did not provide terms of the deal.
Client Service November 14, 2024

Morgan Stanley Partners to Provide Equity, Retirement Services to Newly Public Companies

The firm’s new relationship with Carta would give its Morgan Stanley at Work services first-mover status with companies doing an IPO.

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Morgan Stanley’s workplace services division has signed a deal to be the exclusive provider of workplace benefits and financial planning services to late-stage private companies who are listing publicly.

Through the deal, announced Tuesday, Morgan Stanley at Work will sync up with Carta Inc., a company that assists private companies, funds and limited partners, in both venture capital and private equity, with initial public offerings. When those firms go public, they will be teed up first to go with Morgan Stanley at Work’s services, including executive equity solutions, general financial wellness programs and retirement planning services.  

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“Based on each client’s unique needs and situation, Morgan Stanley at Work will offer referred corporate clients additional workplace solutions, including retirement services, deferred compensation, financial wellness, saving and giving solutions, and executive services during their transition to becoming a public company,” Shawn Murphy, head of private markets at Morgan Stanley at Work, said via email.

Morgan Stanley at Work’s Issuer Strategy team can also initially “conduct a detailed transaction readiness assessment for referred clients, which is the process of enabling shares of a private company’s stock to be bought, sold, transferred or acquired in preparation for a monetization event, like an IPO, tender offer or M&A event,” Murphy wrote.

She noted additional services such as capital markets and investment banking services, wealth management and financial advisory services, private wealth management, family office and access to E*Trade.

Morgan Stanley’s leadership has, in recent earnings calls, talked about the growth found when workplace solutions lead to wealth management business.

Jed Finn, the head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, in a statement about the Carta deal, pointed to the current strength of the private market that is leading to companies staying private for longer—in turn gaining size and scale before going public.

“As a result, the next wave of IPOs may include some of the largest, most sophisticated companies to ever go public,” Finn said. “Participants within these companies will need not just equity administration, but all the advice, guidance and financial planning that comes with a significant liquidity event.”

San Francisco-based Carta, founded in 2012 as eShares Inc., which is still its official name, has almost 2,000 companies preparing for IPO, according to the firm. The company represents about $130 billion in assets under management and works with about 7,000 funds and special purpose vehicles.

Those companies that choose to stick with Morgan Stanley at Work in the transition will get the firm’s “experience in supporting public companies across a full spectrum of offerings, from its premier investment banking franchise to the investment and wealth management divisions that can cater to participants at every stage of their wealth journey,” according to the announcement.

Morgan Stanley launched its workplace division in 2019.

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