Empower to Buy Prudential's Retirement Business for $3.55B

Empower Retirement said Wednesday that it will acquire Prudential’s full-service retirement business.

In the deal, subject to regulatory approvals, Empower will acquire Prudential’s full-service retirement plan recordkeeping and administration business for a total transaction value of $3.55 billion.

“Empower and Prudential share a commitment to serving the financial needs of working Americans, their advisors and employers,” Ed Murphy, Empower’s president and CEO, said Wednesday in a statement. “This transaction will create an even stronger service organization at Empower, fueled by technology and the expertise of our deep talent pool. We will continue to leverage our scale and resources to challenge the status quo and be uniquely positioned to serve the retirement and wealth management needs of millions of retirement savers in every phase of their financial journey.”

Prudential’s full-service retirement recordkeeping business comprises more than 4,300 workplace savings plans, through which approximately 4 million plan participants have saved $314 billion in assets.

At closing, Empower will acquire Prudential’s defined contribution, defined benefit, nonqualified and rollover IRA business in addition to its stable value and separate account investment products and platforms.

Prudential Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey added in the statement that “today’s announcement is a significant milestone in Prudential’s transformation and the execution of our strategy to become a higher growth, less market sensitive, more nimble business. In Empower, we have found a partner that, like Prudential, is passionate about expanding financial opportunity for more people, and that has the scale and expertise to ensure the long-term success of the full-service retirement business.”