Deals & People February 21, 2012

Firms Combine Alternative Assets Capabilities

PENSCO Trust and Lincoln Trust, both independent custodians of alternative assets, will combine capabilities.
Reported by

Headquartered in San Francisco, the company will be called PENSCO and have more than $10 billion in assets, 57,000 clients and operations across the country. PENSCO will expand the range of alternative assets clients can hold in tax-advantaged accounts to include investments in private equity, venture capital, start-up companies, real estate, notes and precious metals.   

PENSCO will also expand its adviser network, with the addition of 6,000 advisers who currently work with Lincoln.  

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According to the companies, the transaction, which is expected to close in March and is subject to regulatory review by state regulators, will make PENSCO the nation’s largest independent custodian of alternative investments by assets.  

PENSCO’S technology platform will streamline the process of investing in alternative assets in tax-advantaged accounts. PENSCO will now have the capability to create an all-electronic process for clients, advisers and investment sponsors. The platform’s image document capabilities will minimize the physical movement of paperwork associated with account administration. 

Lincoln Trust will retain its 401(k) business and remain an independent entity that provides a complete set of solutions to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Deals & People February 21, 2012

Campbell Joins Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

 

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP hired Bradford P. Campbell, former assistant secretary of Labor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), as counsel in its Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Group in Washington, D.C.   

 

 

Reported by

Campbell joins the firm from Schiff Hardin LLP, where he focused on ERISA Title I issues, including fiduciary conduct and representation of financial service providers.

In his work as assistant secretary, Campbell was ERISA’s primary regulatory and enforcement official, playing a key role in every significant ERISA retirement and health reform of the prior decade. Under his leadership, EBSA first proposed the recently finalized 408(b)(2) service provider disclosure and plan participant disclosure regulations addressing the transparency of 401(k) and other retirement plan fees. Campbell also issued the final QDIA regulation facilitating automatic enrollment of workers in their retirement plans, and a final regulation expanding participant access to professional investment advice. 

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Earlier in his government service, Campbell assisted in developing and negotiating the Pension Protection Act of 2006, including provisions modernizing the prohibited transaction rules.  

In 2011, Campbell was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Defined Contribution by 401kWire.

Campbell earned his law degree, cum laude,from the Georgetown University Law Center, and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

 

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