Empower Closes Acquisition of Prudential Financial Retirement Business

By: Empower Retirement via Business Wire

April 04, 2022 at 08:00 AM EDT

Acquisition expands Empower’s reach across retirement services market to more than 17 million individuals and $1.4 trillion in AUA

Empower today announced it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Prudential Financial, Inc.’s full-service retirement business.

The $3.5 billion acquisition expands Empower’s reach to more than 17.1 million retirement plan participants with $1.4 trillion in assets under administration on behalf of approximately 71,000 clients.¹

The transaction also includes more than 1,800 employees who will provide a comprehensive suite of retirement recordkeeping and administration services to financial professionals, plan sponsors and participants.

“This transaction broadens our ability to serve the financial needs of working Americans, their advisors and employers,” said Edmund F. Murphy III, President and CEO of Empower. “This transaction will create an even stronger service organization at Empower, expands our product offerings and the deepens the expertise of our talent pool.”

With the close, Empower acquires Prudential’s defined contribution, defined benefit, non-qualified and rollover IRA business in addition to its stable value and separate account investment products and platforms. It expands Empower’s already broad spectrum of workplace savings plans, which includes mega, large, mid-size and small corporate 401(k) plans; government plans ranging in scale from state-level plans to municipal agencies; not-for-profit 403(b) plans; and collectively bargained Taft-Hartley plans.

Leveraging new capabilities from its 2020 acquisition of Personal Capital, Empower offers a highly personalized digital experience that integrates the elements of any individual’s financial plan to help them better understand their current financial needs through financial advice and goal setting.

“We continue to expand our services to better serve the retirement and wealth management needs of millions of individuals in every phase of their financial journey,” Murphy said. “By creating scale, we can deliver much-needed advice and guidance through a combination of both in-person and digital offerings.”

Eversheds Sutherland served as legal counsel and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Rockefeller Capital Management served as financial advisors to Empower.

About Empower

Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower administers approximately $1.4 trillion in assets¹ for more than 17 million retirement plan participants and is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants.² Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans; small, mid-size and large corporate 401(k) clients; nonprofit 403 (b) entities; private-label recordkeeping clients; and IRA customers. Personal Capital, a subsidiary of Empower, is an industry-leading hybrid wealth manager. For more information please visit empower.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

1 As of April 1, 2022. Information refers to all retirement business of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company (GWLA) and its subsidiaries, including Empower Retirement, LLC; Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York (GWLANY); and Prudential Retirement Insurance & Annuity Company (PRIAC), marketed under the Empower brand. Assets represents the estimated consolidated pro forma assets under administration (AUA) of Empower and the full-service retirement business of Prudential Financial, Inc., as of December 31, 2021. AUA is a non-GAAP measure and does not reflect the financial stability or strength of a company. As of December 31, 2021, GWLA’s statutory assets total $75.9B and liabilities total $73.0B, GWLANY’s statutory assets total $4.1B and liabilities total $3.9B, and PRIAC’s statutory assets total $100.329B and liabilities total $98.793B.

2 Pension & Investments 2020 Defined Contribution Survey Ranking as of April 2021.

Securities, when presented, are offered and/or distributed by GWFS Equities, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. GWFS is an affiliate of Empower Retirement, LLC; Great-West Funds, Inc.; and registered investment adviser, Advised Assets Group, LLC. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide investment, legal or tax recommendations or advice.

Empower Retirement refers to the products and services offered by GWLA and its subsidiaries, including Empower Retirement, LLC. Empower Retirement is not affiliated with Prudential or its affiliates. All product names, logos and brands are property of their respective owners. “EMPOWER,” “EMPOWER RETIREMENT,” and all associated logos and product names are trademarks of GWLA. Prudential and all associated logos are registered trademarks owned by The Prudential Insurance Company of America and are used under license.