Key Takeaways
- • Hightower Holding announced it will acquire a majority interest in NEPC, LLC, a leading investment consultant and outsourced chief investment officer provider, with the deal expected to close in early 2025.
- • NEPC advises on more than $1.5 trillion in client assets, serving pensions and endowments on asset allocation, manager research and OCIO services.
- • Hightower and NEPC executives declined to disclose the transaction's cost.
- • Market observers cited by Pensions & Investments say the deal could spur further combinations between wealth managers and institutional consultants.
Summary
Hightower Holding has announced that it will acquire a majority interest in NEPC, LLC, a leading investment consultant and outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) provider, according to publisher reporting. Hightower and NEPC executives said the transaction should close in early 2025 and declined to provide further details on its cost.
NEPC advises pensions and endowments on their asset allocations, researches and investigates asset managers, and is described on its own website as one of the industry's largest investment consulting firms. The firm advises on more than $1.5 trillion in client assets. The deal would combine NEPC's institutional investment, research and OCIO capabilities with Hightower's registered investment adviser platform, which the company has been growing rapidly. Hightower said the stake would bolster its access to institutional-quality investment research, alternative assets and outsourced investment services.
Pensions & Investments frames the transaction as a sign of a broader trend in which institutional consultants are expanding into wealth management. Market veterans quoted in the publication say the Hightower-NEPC deal could encourage further couplings of wealth managers and institutional consultants. The article notes that Hightower had already invested in NEPC earlier in 2024 as part of building out its family office capabilities.
The Pensions & Investments story is primarily a defined contribution piece on 401(k) sponsors and retirement readiness, and the acquisition is covered in the context of the consultant-to-wealth-management trend rather than as a standalone transaction report.
NEPC advises pensions and endowments on their asset allocations, researches and investigates asset managers, and is described on its own website as one of the industry's largest investment consulting firms. The firm advises on more than $1.5 trillion in client assets. The deal would combine NEPC's institutional investment, research and OCIO capabilities with Hightower's registered investment adviser platform, which the company has been growing rapidly. Hightower said the stake would bolster its access to institutional-quality investment research, alternative assets and outsourced investment services.
Pensions & Investments frames the transaction as a sign of a broader trend in which institutional consultants are expanding into wealth management. Market veterans quoted in the publication say the Hightower-NEPC deal could encourage further couplings of wealth managers and institutional consultants. The article notes that Hightower had already invested in NEPC earlier in 2024 as part of building out its family office capabilities.
The Pensions & Investments story is primarily a defined contribution piece on 401(k) sponsors and retirement readiness, and the acquisition is covered in the context of the consultant-to-wealth-management trend rather than as a standalone transaction report.
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