Prudential Selling Portion Of Retirement Business To Empower

Newark NJ

21 July, 2021

9:51 AM

Description

NEWARK, NJ —Prudential Financial, Inc., which is based in Newark, has entered into an agreement to sell its full-service retirement business to Colorado-based Empower Retirement, the companies announced Wednesday. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, has a total value of $3.55 billion and includes Prudential's full-service retirement plan recordkeeping and administration business, according to a release. Prudential's full-service retirement business has more than 1,800 employees who provide a comprehensive suite of retirement recordkeeping and administration services to financial professionals, plan sponsors and participants. The business comprises more than 4,3000 workplace savings plans, through which approximately 4 million participants have saved $314 billion in assets, the company said. "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," said Charles Lowrey, Prudential chairman and CEO. "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." Prudential will continue to participate in the institutional and individual retirement market through its institutional investment products business and through income and investment solutions provided by its individual annuities business and PGIM, a top 10 global asset management firm. Prudential said it expects to use the proceeds from the transaction for general corporate purposes, and the company said it now expects to return $11.0 billion to shareholders through 2023, up from the $10.5 billion announced in May 2021. Empower, which is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, said it expects the acquisition to benefit retirement plan participants by combining two client-focused businesses with deep retirement expertise on a single state-of-the-art technology platform. "Empower and Prudential share a commitment to serving the financial needs of working Americans, their advisors and employers. This transaction will create an even stronger service organization at Empower, fueled by technology and the expertise of our deep talent pool," said Ed Murphy, president and CEO of Empower.