Empower makes $3.5B deal

Company buys Prudential’s retirement business

Empower Retirement announced Wednesday that it will acquire the retirement arm of Prudential Financial, the latest deal in a series the Greenwood Village company has strung together as it tries to get a leg up on rivals.

Empower Retirement, in a transaction valued at $3.55 billion, will gain oversight of the more than 4,300 workplace savings plans with roughly 4 million plan participants and $314 billion in assets that Prudential administers, as well as 1,800 employees.

Following the completion of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, Empower will administer 71,000 workplace retirement plans with 16.6 million participants and $1.4 trillion in assets.

To put that number in perspective, direct federal student loan debt in the U.S. is about $1.3 trillion.

“Empower and Prudential share a commitment to serving the financial needs of working Americans, their advisers 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, Empower’s president and CEO, in a news release.

Last September, Empower Retirement announced the acquisition of the retirement plan business of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. in a deal valued at $3.35 billion. That provided it with 26,000 workplace savings plans with 2.5 million participants and $167 billion in assets.

In June 2020, the company agreed to acquire Personal Capital, a Bay Area digital wealth management firm with a significant presence in Denver, in a $1 billion deal.

But its highest-profile deal, at least for Denver Broncos fans, came in September 2019, when Empower purchased the naming rights to Mile High Stadium in a deal slated to last through 2039.