Massachusetts Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company has agreed to pay $400 million to acquire the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:HIG) retirement plans business.
MassMutual, Springfield, Mass., says it hopes to close on the deal by the end of the year. It has focused on serving midsize plans and now manages about $66 billion in assets for 1.6 million participants in 7,600 plans.
Hartford Financial, Hartford, has served small and midsize retirement plans. It has been managing about $55 billion in assets for 1.5 million participants at 33,000 plans.
Hartford has a much bigger share of the government employer plan market than MassMutual does, MassMutual says.
Elaine Sarsynski, an executive vice president at MassMutual and head of the company’s retirement services division, would manage the integration of the Hartford retirement business into the MassMutual retirement services division, MassMutual says.
Roger Crandall, chairman of MassMutual, says completing the deal should help the company expand into new sectors, double the number of retirement plan participants it serves, and add complementary distribution capabilities.
Hartford has announced plans to sell both its retirement plans business and its individual life business.