Tegrit Financial Group has a bit of an edge on its mission to buy companies that offer administrative services to public pension plans.
The New York-based firm is owned by a public pension fund — the $6 billion Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Michigan, Lansing, which looks at it as a cross between a venture capital firm and a portfolio company, said Jeb Burns, the system's chief investment officer.
“We look at it as a private-public partnership,” Mr. Burns said.
The firm already has purchased a small-plan administrator and record-keeper, which it renamed Tegrit Plan Administrators, and a company that offers software to manage administration of pension funds, Tegrit Technologies. The Michigan Municipal system committed up to $100 million to build the subsidiary and make investments in companies Tegrit acquires, Mr. Burns said.
The Michigan Municipal system “is one of the more innovative entities out there,” said Stephen D. Garrow, Tegrit's chief executive officer. Before joining Tegrit, Mr. Garrow was a special adviser to New York-based Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc., a Kuwaiti-owned global investment firm.
So far, Tegrit has made its acquisitions without debt, Mr. Garrow said. But it might add some debt to future acquisitions, he said.
And in case you're curious about its name, it comes from in-TEGRIT-y. — Arleen Jacobius
