The defined contribution record keeping business continues to shift amid ownership changes, sales and spinoffs as corporate parents change their strategies.
Here are some of the prominent deals:
- Private equity firms Genstar Capital and Aquiline Capital Partners bought Ascensus in December 2015 from J.C. Flowers & Co., a private equity firm. Ascensus is a record keeper and administrator of 529 college plans.
- Mercer sold its DC record-keeping business to Transamerica Retirement Solutions in December 2015. The buyer is a product of a 2013 merger between Diversified and Transamerica Retirement Services. The merged company is — and the former companies were — owned by Aegon NV.
- OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. acquired the U.S. defined contribution record-keeping business of BMO Financial Group in September 2015.
- In April 2015, New York Life Insurance Co. sold its New York Life Retirement Plan Services, excluding the stable value business, to Manulife Financial Corp.'s John Hancock Financial. The New York Life business was merged with John Hancock Retirement Plan Services.
- J.P. Morgan Asset Management sold its large-plan defined contribution business — J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services — in September 2014 to Great-West Financial.
- The retirement businesses of Great-West Financial and Putnam Investments were merged in March 2014 by their parent, Great-West Lifeco Inc. These businesses plus J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services are unified under the name Empower Retirement.
- Hartford Financial Services Group sold its retirement plan services unit to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. The deal closed on Jan. 1, 2013.