An international insurance company is expanding its investment advisory business by acquiring a firm that provides investment consulting services to pension plans.

Itasca, Ill.-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s investment advisor subsidiary, GBS Investment Consulting, has purchased Independent Fiduciary Services in Washington, D.C. GBS manages Gallagher's employee benefits consulting and insurance brokerage operations. Gallagher does business in more that 110 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants. Financial terms of Gallagher's acquisition of IFS were not disclosed by company officials.

Gallagher President Samuel (Skip) Halpern said the IFS acquisition deepens Gallagher's resources, broadens its range of expertise and reinforces the continuity of its business, while GBS IC broadens its services, enhances the expertise of its investment advisory services and greatly increases its professional staff and assets under advisement.

"Even as we gain additional analytical tools and access to the resources of the Gallagher organization, continuity in our services and personnel is essential to our clients," Halpern said. "Our entire management, investment staff and fiduciary experts continue operating from our current locations in Washington, D.C., and Newark, N.J. The same professionals who currently serve our many clients remain in place."

"The addition of Independent Fiduciary Services to GBS Investment Consulting LLC deepens our client value proposition of managing and mitigating fiduciary risk," said Michael DiCenso, GBS president. "The expertise and experience of the IFS team in the areas of fiduciary decision making, Taft Hartley and public funds complements and expands the services GBS Investment Consulting already provides to its healthcare, religious, foundation and endowment clients."

"This deal creates tremendous synergies across our investment advisory space,'' says DiCenso. "We now have about $47 billion of planned assets under advisory. We now have a total of 168 clients and 332 plans."   

Launched in 1987, IFS provides investment consulting to institutional investors--especially employee benefit plans in both the private and public sectors--and also serves as a special purpose "independent fiduciary" to assist pension, 401(k) and welfare funds that encounter a conflict of interest.

IFS senior management and staff will continue to operate from their Washington, D.C., and Newark, N.J., locations, as part of GBS Investment Consulting LLC.
"We will continue to manage our business, actively participating in client relationships, and because Gallagher does not provide investment management, investment banking, lending or similar services, our work as an investment advisor and special purpose 'independent fiduciary' decision-maker continues free of conflicting relationships," Lilly said.

- Jim McConville