Great Gray Expands Retirement Business With RPAG Acquisition

Great Gray Trust Co. LLC, a provider of collective investment trust solutions, has acquired Retirement Plan Advisory Group, a 401(k) practice management platform serving retirement plan advisers.

The acquisition, reported on Wealthmanagement.com, expands Great Gray’s presence in the retirement plan advisory market, adding RPAG’s network of financial advisers and suite of technology-driven 401(k) optimization tools.

RPAG, according to its website, has $1.6 trillion in assets under influence, serves 152,000 retirement plans and has 15 million plan participants. The firm is led by Vince Giovinazzo, its founder and CEO, and Nick Della Vedova, its president.

Madison Dearborn first entered retirement investing in December 2022, when it agreed to acquire Wilmington Trust’s CIT division. That acquisition, finalized on April 28, 2023, led to the formation of Great Gray Trust Co. LLC, the successor trustee to Wilmington Trust’s CIT business.

In 2013, Madison Dearborn acquired National Financial Partners in a transaction valued at $1.3 billion.

The companies involved did not respond to requests for comment.

On LinkedIn, Jesse Taylor, a senior vice president at RPAG, described the company’s evolution as: “From our early days as 401(k) Advisors and RPAG, to joining NFP Retirement for over a decade and launching flexPATH Strategies and PlanFees, to becoming independent in 2023, and now taking an exciting next step as part of the Great Gray Trust Company family … we’ve partnered with them for over a decade on RPAG’s exclusive CIT suite. Now with their support, we’re accelerating our ability to innovate—enhancing our technology, expanding our Advisor Service Team, and bringing even more value to our community.”

RPAG has long been a key player in the retirement advisory sector, providing investment research and compliance tools for advisers. The firm also co-founded flexPATH Strategies, a provider of target-date funds and managed investment solutions that many RPAG-affiliated advisers use in constructing client portfolios.