Business partnership meeting. Picture businessmans handshake. Successful businessmen handshaking after good deal. Horizontal, blurred (Business partnership meeting. Picture businessmans handshake. Successful businessmen handshaking after good deal. Ho
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Empower Retirement will strengthen its position in the U.S. retirement services market with a $4.4-billion acquisition announced Tuesday by parent company Great-West Lifeco Inc. and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

“This transaction is an excellent strategic fit and directly aligns with Lifeco’s long-term plans for growth and scale in the U.S. retirement market,” Great-West chief executive Paul Mahon said in a statement.

“It increases our scale advantages and strengthens Empower’s position as the second largest player in this growing segment of the U.S. market,” Mahon said.

The deal follows Empower’s recent acquisition of U.S. investment manager Personal Capital in a deal worth up to US$1 billion, including US$825 million up front and up to US$175 million over two years.

Empower Retirement, based near Denver, administers $667 billion in assets for more than 9.7 million retirement plan participants as of June 30.

The MassMutual retirement services business will add 26,000 plans with approximately 2.5 million participants and US$167 billion in assets.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

MassMutual said the retirement plan portion of its business employs approximately 2,000 people.

“In Empower, we are pleased to have found a strong, long-term home for MassMutual’s retirement plan business, and believe this transaction will greatly benefit our policyowners and customers as we invest in our future growth and accelerate progress on our strategy,” Roger Crandall, MassMutual’s chairman, president and CEO said in a separate statement.

In addition, Empower and MassMutual plan a partnership through which digital insurance products offered by Haven Life Insurance Agency and MassMutual’s voluntary insurance and lifetime income products will offered to Empower and Personal Capital customers.

Empower’s newly acquired Personal Capital is a hybrid wealth manager that manages $13 billion in assets, delivered virtually from offices across the United States.