Deals & People January 5, 2021

Compass Financial Partners Acquired by Marsh & McLennan Agency

Compass Financial is the latest firm recognized in the PLANADVISER Top 100 listing to be acquired by a large, diversified financial services entity.

Reported by

John Manganaro

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC (MMA), which describes itself as the middle market subsidiary of Marsh, today announced its acquisition of Compass Financial Partners.

Compass Financial is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and focuses on retirement plan consulting and investment advisory services. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but context for the size of the deal comes from the fact that Compass Financial earned recognition in the 2020 PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers listing in the large team category. As of the start of 2021, its combined plan assets under advisement exceed $14 billion. Additionally, the firm provides private wealth management and financial planning services to individuals and families.

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Compass colleagues will continue to work under the leadership of Founders and Managing Partners Kathleen Kelly and George Hoyle. Kelly also will join MMA’s National Retirement Strategy Team and lead the Retirement Services Practice for the Mid-Atlantic region.

Commenting on the acquisition, Bill Jeatran, president of MMA, says the acquisition represents a significant enhancement of MMA’s capabilities as it seeks to further integrate health, wealth and retirement services into its total well-being solution for clients. In addition to its employee benefits-focused business lines, MMA also offers commercial property, casualty and personal lines of insurance.

“We are excited to welcome Compass’ colleagues to MMA, and we look forward to Kathleen’s leadership on our National Retirement Strategy Team,” Jeatran adds.

Kelly says joining MMA allows her firm to broaden and enhance the resources it can offer to both its clients and colleagues.

“Our team is eager to play a role in the ongoing growth of this dynamic national firm,” she says.

Underscoring the rapid pace of retirement plan industry mergers and acquisitions (M&As) anticipated this year, the announcement of MMA’s acquisition comes on the same day that Aquiline Capital Partners announced it has made a strategic 80% private equity investment in SageView Advisory Group, with the remaining 20% of equity being retained internally by management.