Alera Group has acquired Advanced Capital Group in a move that will add $24 billion in retirement plan and wealth management assets to Alera’s platform, the financial services firm announced in a news release Sept. 5.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The transaction represents Alera’s largest acquisition of a retirement plan business to date, said Christian Mango, Alera’s head of retirement plan services, in an email.
Most of the assets moving to Alera represent retirement plan assets, accounting for $23.5 billion of the $24 billion, Mango said. The remaining $500 million represents wealth management assets.
Advanced Capital Group, which is based in Minneapolis, provides institutional investment consulting for employer-sponsored retirement plans, endowments and foundations. It also manages fixed-income portfolios for defined benefit plans and other institutional clients.
Advanced Capital’s 24 team members will continue serving clients in their existing roles.
The acquisition will increase Alera’s ability to better serve both mid- and large-size plan sponsors, deepen the company’s investment capabilities and add what Mango describes as a “unique solution to the defined benefits space.”
It will also expand Alera’s geographic reach in Minnesota and more broadly across the Midwest, Mango said.
The deal follows Alera's acquisitions of employee benefits consulting company Brio Benefits and The Ascent Group and its affiliated companies last year. The Ascent Group acquisition, announced in January 2023, boosted Alera’s retirement plan assets by $1.3 billion and its wealth management assets by $1.5 billion. The Brio deal in October 2023 added $1 billion in retirement plan assets to Alera’s platform, Mango said.
The latest acquisition of Advanced Capital brings Alera’s total assets in retirement and wealth services to $45 billion.
Advanced Capital was advised by mergers and acquisitions firm Wise Rhino Group.
Alera provides property and casualty insurance, employee benefits as well as wealth and retirement plan services to clients nationwide.
