The Persistent Pace of M&A's
The pace of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the retirement plan advisory space remained high throughout the first three quarters of this year, with the number and size of deals exceeding the expectations of industry analysts.
In late September alone, Hub International Ltd. announced six retirement plan advisory-focused deals. Among the global insurance brokerage firm’s acquisitions were PLANADVISER Top 100 Advisers and PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year award winners including EPIC Retirement Services Consulting LLC, Stone Street Pearl River LLC and Washington Financial LLC, etc.
According to David Reich, national president, Hub Retirement and Private Wealth, the firm has targeted well-established retirement plan advisory practices, in order to gain an immediate and actionable foothold in the retirement plan marketplace. Reich says this is a new market for Hub, and the firm will provide its 100-plus new advisers with significantly expanded resources, especially in terms of new sales capabilities and insurance-focused products and services. Ultimately, Hub expects to cross-sell diversified wealth management and insurance services across the new corporate retirement plan and executive client base.
The series of deals announced by Hub was the latest in a flurry of industry M&A transactions closed this year. Cerity Partners LLC acquired Blue Prairie Group. CAPTRUST has been on a serial buying streak of its own, with a clear focus on merging the retirement and wealth sides of the advisory business. One firm brought recently into CAPTRUST is Watermark Asset Management, which handles individual client accounts with a high-touch approach. On the other hand, the newly acquired Rogers Financial is an institutional advisory firm that advises more than 35 retirement plans.
Similar to the outlook voiced by strategic acquirers, serial buyers argue that serving retirement plans and private individuals does not mean advisers will be aggressively soliciting rollovers or engaging in other potentially problematic cross-selling behaviors. Instead, they say, building a scalable firm that does both private wealth and institutional retirement plan business is about creating a holistic service ecosystem that clients want and need.
Independent shops seeking to remain solo continue to affiliate with entities such as GRP Advisor Alliance and Resources Investment Advisors LLC, that offer access to many of the solutions a CAPTRUST or Hub can bring to bear.