Ascensus, a retirement and college savings services provider in Dresher, Pa., announced Tuesday it had acquired Swerdlin & Company in Atlanta, Ga., and SES Advisors in Valparaiso, Ind., to continue expanding its defined contribution and defined benefit offerings (along with its geographical reach).
Ascensus boasts more than $187 billion in total assets under administration and supports over 60,000 retirement accounts and more than 4 million 529 education savings accounts.
Swerdlin and SES Advisors will join Ascensus’s third-party administrator (TPA) solutions division. According to Ascensus, both companies bring employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) capabilities under the firm’s purview.
Swerdlin’s scale of services for various types of retirement, health and cafeteria plans appealed to Ascensus. Swerdlin services benefit plans like 401(k) plans, ESOPs, cash balance plans and health reimbursement accounts nationwide and across industries.
SES Advisors has an advantage of specializing in ESOP administration, consulting and record-keeping services. However, its transaction and financial advisory practice was not included in the purchase, Ascensus said; those operations will be rebranded as SES ESOP Strategies and continue under its current parent organization.
“The ESOP capabilities and expertise of Swerdlin & Company and SES Advisors helps Ascensus deliver an even broader set of product solutions to its new and existing clients,” said David Musto, Ascensus’ president, in a statement.
The new purchases follow other acquisitions Ascensus made earlier this year. In March, it agreed to buy Chard Snyder, an employee benefits services provider based in Mason, Ohio, that is a third-party administrator for consumer-directed health plans. The firm will be the anchor for Ascensus’s new health division. Chard Snyder also provides other services like benefit continuation services, leave administration, retiree billing administration and commuter benefits.
Avintus also struck an agreement for acquisition in March. Avintus is a provider of retirement plan administration and 3(16) fiduciary services for defined contribution and cash balance plans. Like the previously mentioned companies, it provides services nationwide and across various industries.
In April, Ascensus announced it would buy Benefit Planning Consultants (BPC) in Champaign, Ill., and Asperia Retirement Plan Solutions in Worcester, Mass. BPC helps fill out Ascensus’s health division as a third-party administrator that provides services to consumer-directed health plans along with retirement plans.
As Ascensus continues to grow through acquisitions, it’s also building out its management with Jerry Bramlett as its new head of TPA solutions; Robert Kaplan as its newly appointed chief compliance officer; Jeff Simes and Bas Van Rhee as its regional vice presidents. The firm’s assets under administration and the number of accounts it supports have also increased. Ascensus stated its assets in administration were at $163 billion and its retirement accounts at 54,000. Recently, those numbers have increased; its AUA increased by approximately $24 billion, its retirement accounts increased by four thousand, and the firm moved up from 7 million retail clients to 8 million.