Deals & People October 24, 2024

US Retirement & Benefits Partners Acquires Pension Planning Consultants

In an additional sign of further retirement, benefits and wealth consolidation, Alera Group acquired Berkshire Fairfield Insurance Agency and Scarafoni Financial Group.

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Consolidation continued this week in retirement plan advisement, as two firms continued to expand their footprints.

U.S. Retirement & Benefit Partners Inc. announced the acquisition of Pension Planning Consultants Inc., expanding USRBP’s retirement and benefits presence.

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Founded in 1971, PPC is a New Mexico-based firm led by Tim Haist with more than 60 employees. The company provides retirement plan design consulting and third-party-administration services to more than 2,300 clients. The firm offers four in-house actuaries, catering to both defined benefit and defined contribution plans.

“Serving over 2,700 clients with over $3.5B in assets, Pension Planning Consultants has been one of the Southwest’s most successful third-party administration firms since its founding over 50 years ago,” says Peter Campagna, the managing partner in Wise Rhino Group, which represented PPC in the transaction. “Tim, Lisa and Joel have built a firm that focuses on each of their client’s unique needs while embracing technology and operational innovation.”

The deal marks another in a series this year for USRBP. In January, the Iselin, New Jersey-based company acquired a regional employee benefits broker in Rochester, New York. In May, it acquired a retirement book of business from a Midwestern financial services firm. In June, Chicago-based private equity firm Vistria Group LP completed a majority recapitalization of USRBP, with Kohlberg & Co. remaining as a minority investor.

In a separate announcement, Alera Group announced two acquisitions in Massachusetts: Berkshire Fairfield Insurance Agency and Scarafoni Financial Group, both based in Pittsfield. The acquisitions bolster Alera Group’s capabilities in employee benefits, property and casualty insurance, and retirement plan services.

The acquisitions add approximately $200 million in retirement plan assets under advisement to Alera’s retirement plan services division, which has about $200 billion in total client assets across retirement and wealth. The newly combined office will be led by senior partners Brian Tremblay and Matthew Scarafoni and will include a team of 18. Both the Berkshire Fairfield and Scarafoni teams will continue serving their clients in their existing roles.

“Berkshire Fairfield and ST Insurance focus on understanding their clients’ unique complexities and providing the right products and solutions to meet their needs,” Gary Piantedosi, managing director for the Alera Group’s Northeast region, said in a statement. “This approach aligns well with Alera Group’s collaborative philosophy, and we’re excited to grow together with their teams and clients.”

Products & Services October 24, 2024

Product & Service Launches – 10/24/24

Morgan Stanley fund lands $2B in capital commitments; Transamerica managed advice available for contractors PEP; OneDigital launches new benefits platform; and more.

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Morgan Stanley Closes Private Markets Fund With $2B Committed

Morgan Stanley Investment Management has secured $2 billion in committed capital for its new North Haven Tactical Value II Fund LP.

The fund invests in credit, hybrid investments and non-controlling equity investments across sectors and geographical regions. The capital raise drew both institutional and qualified individuals and is nearly 50% more of a raise than its predecessor fund, NHTV I, the firm noted.

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Thomas Cahill and Pedro Teixeira, co-heads of Morgan Stanley’s tactical value investing, billed the fund as being “a highly diversified portfolio of uncorrelated investments unconstrained by the narrower mandates of traditional private equity or private credit strategies.”

Gainbridge Non-Tax-Deferred Annuities Available at RetireOne

Annuity seller Gainbridge, a Group 1001 company, has partnered with distributor RetireOne to offer Gainbridge’s annuities to registered investment advisers.

RIAs can now access through RetireOne two Gainbridge high-yield, multi-year guaranteed annuity products, Fastbreak and SteadyPace. The firms noted in the announcement that RetireOne is the “first outsourced insurance desk” to offer non-tax-deferred annuity products.

“Gainbridge Life offers multi-year guaranteed annuity products that are a game-changer for our advisor network,” RetireOne President Jeff Cusack said in a statement. “With SteadyPace and FastBreak, our clients can access some of the highest yields in the industry, coupled with the security and principal protection they expect.”

FastBreak and SteadyPace have fixed rates as high as 5.50% annual percentage yield, according to the firms.

Transamerica’s Managed Advice Now Available to Contractor’s PEP

Transamerica Corp. announced its managed advice offering will be the exclusive offering to the Contractors Plan, a $2 billion pooled employer plan administering retirement benefits to nearly 1,500 employers and more than 64,500 workers.

The offering comes through an expanded partnership between Transamerica and third-party administrator Fringe Benefit Group Inc., which is administering the PEP. Through the expanded partnership, FBG will offer to plan participants Transamerica’s managed account offering that includes a multilingual website, retirement planning tools and a menu of investment options for their retirement plans.

“We are excited to expand this collaboration, leveraging our pooled plan capabilities as a scalable and efficient model for new plan growth,” Darren Zino, Transamerica’s head of retirement distribution, said in a statement. “We will lean into FBG and The Contractors Plan’s incredible network to enable us to expand retirement plans and service offerings to even more hardworking Americans.”

FBG has a history of creating benefit programs for government contractors, restaurants, retail and staffing companies.

OneDigital Launches New Benefits Platform

OneDigital has brought a new, all-in-one benefits platform to market for employers.

The offering, Impact Studio, gives employers a platform to track and manage total spending on health and benefits, retirement, wages and salaries. It also “maximizes employer spending by aligning investment to benchmarking and employee value,” according to the announcement.

OneDigital touted the new system’s ability to help benefits managers with employee turnover and clear messaging and administration of employee offerings to attract and retain talent.


“By integrating medical, ancillary, stop loss and retirement benchmarking tools with other functionalities such as claims utilization and employee value perception insights, Impact Studio gives OneDigital consultants and their clients greater visibility into their benefits programs, enabling the ability to control costs and drive impact for their employees,” the firm wrote in the announcement.

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