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Deals & People August 1, 2007
Great-West Continues Buying in RK Space
Great-West Life&Annuity Insurance Co. (GWLA) has agreed to acquire Franklin Templeton Investment’s 401(k) recordkeeping business, the firms announced.
Reported by Alison Cooke
The deal will mean that Great-West will assume additional servicing and custodial responsibilities for approximately 340 plans, representing about 64,000 participants. Great-West has already been supporting Franklin Templeton’s recordkeeping business since 2006 through its affiliate FASCore, LLC.
“This agreement reinforces our position as one of the top retirement plan providers in the United States,’ said Raymond McFeetors, president and CEO of Great-West Lifeco, in a release. “It demonstrates our commitment to the corporate retirement plan marketplace, where we’ve earned a reputation as an innovative and growing player.’
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In total, GWLA provides retirement plan services to 21,000 401(k), 401(a), 403(b), and 457 plans, representing approximately 3.5 million participants and $104 billion in assets.
In early February, Great-West announced it would be acquiring Putnam Investments from Marsh & McLennan (See It’s Official – Great-West Picks Up Putnam). That acquisition followed the 2006 acquisition of the 401(k) retirement plan business of U.S. Bank and MetLife.
A press release about the Franklin Templeton deal is available at http://www.greatwestlifeco.com/english/news/lifeco_08_01_2007_templeton.pdf.