Captrust continues to deepen its hold in the institutional retirement services market.
Captrust announced Tuesday that it acquired Cammack Retirement Group, a 50-year-old company with $154 billion in assets under administration, bringing Captrust's total retirement plan assets under administration to over $600 billion.
“CAPTRUST is coming out of the gates strong in 2021,” said David DeVoe of consulting firm DeVoe & Company in San Francisco, in an email. “After five deals in 2020, they have already signed four in 2021. Half a trillion has a nice ring to it. It's a significant milestone for the organization.”
The deal brings in Cammack’s headquarters in New York City and Wellesley, Mass., along with an office in Lexington, Ky. Thirty-eight employees joined Captrust, including Cammack’s executives Jeff Levy, Mike Volo, Emily Wrightson, Mike Sanders and Earle Allen.
Cammack serves 170 plan sponsors, representing 1.3 million participants, according to the company.
“Bringing together our resources and deep expertise makes our offering unmatched in the industry,” said Rick Shoff, Captrust managing director of advisor group, in a statement.
Cammack is the Raleigh, N.C.–based firm’s 47th acquisition since 2006. Eight of those have been carveouts of retirement businesses from RIAs.
Captrust has furthered its acquisition strategy backed by private equity firm GTCR. The PE investor took a 25% minority stake in the firm in June. The deal valued Captrust at $1.25 billion.
“The institutional retirement industry is one with outstanding scale benefits. Captrust's leadership team has firmly solidified their reputation as an adept acquirer,” said Brian Lauzon, managing director of InCap Group, an M&A consulting firm and investment bank based in Baltimore.
“The retirement planning side of wealth management continues to heat up as more buyers seek scale to reduce operating costs and achieve higher valuation multiples and growth. For advisors, these mean more choices of firms to partner with, better valuations and different options in terms of how the sellers stay involved with the business,” said Dan Seivert, CEO and managing partner of Echelon Partners in Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Shoff and Rush Benton, senior director of strategic growth at Captrust, told WealthManagement.com in October that the firm has been on an acquisition spree to bridge its retirement advisory space with its desire to be a top wealth manager. By the close of 2020, Captrust had built its AUM up to $60 billion, and in the first quarter of 2021, the firm has acquired two wealth management businesses, including MRA Associates and Genovese Burford & Brothers.
This article has been updated. Cammack Retirement Group is Captrust's 47th acquisition, not its 46th.