Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire the trade processing business of the Wilmington Trust Retirement and Institutional Services unit of M&T Bank Corp. Terms were not disclosed.
Wilmington Trust spokesman Kent Wissinger said the deal will not have “any real impact on Wilmington Trust employees in the Delaware market.”
About two dozen employees in Delaware work on the processing platform, with most moving over to the Broadridge team. Their jobs will remain at the Wilmington Trust headquarters in downtown Wilmington, he said. The remainder of the group will remain employed by Wilmington Trust
Wilmington Trust Retirement and Institutional Services’ processing business will be combined with Broadridge’s Matrix Financial Solutions, a mutual fund and ETF trade processing platform for the retirement industry with access to more than 25,000 funds.
The addition will enable Broadridge to meet an even greater variety of client needs, including supporting larger plans, a release stated.
Upon closing of the transaction, the combined platform is expected to have more than $290 billion in assets under administration.
.”Through Broadridge, clients will have expanded access to strong technology and innovative solutions, and will continue to experience the high-level of service they’ve come to expect,” said M&T Executive Vice President Bill Farrell. “This transaction is a great opportunity for both companies, and enables us to further strengthen our core institutional retirement business including our collective trust program, employee stock ownership plans, U.S. Charitable Gift Trust program, and fiduciary duties associated with defined benefit and defined contribution plans.”
“Wilmington Trust is only selling the directed trustee processing platform for institutional retirement custody accounts. We are not exiting the institutional retirement business,” Wissinger said. “ We felt that this type of processing is not a core capability nor a business objective for Wilmington Trust and M&T Bank. Broadridge was selected because they have the resources and infrastructure, and they provide the types of services our clients need.”
The transaction is expected to be completed late in the first quarter of calendar 2015, subject to closing requirements and regulatory approvals.
