Benefits and retirement newsmakers: athenahealth, Janus Henderson Group, Nationwide, Cigna

Acquistions affecting the employee benefits and retirement space are barreling onward, a veritable M&A tsunami. But we’re also seeing more executive retirement announcements, as well as some interesting collaborations and partnerships.

Wealthspire Advisors has agreed to acquire Private Ocean, a fiduciary wealth management firm with $2.7 billion in assets. Founded in 2009, Private Ocean is the combination of two of the oldest privately-held wealth management firms in the San Francisco Bay Area – Salient Wealth Management and Friedman & Associates. Greg Friedman, CEO and Founder of Private Ocean was honored by BenefitsPRO’s sister publication, ThinkAdvisor, in their Class of 2021 LUMINARIES.

VSP Global announced a partnership with Black EyeCare Perspective, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to redefining the color of the eye care industry 1% at a time. As a part of the partnership, VSP Global has signed the 13% Promise, an initiative to increase equity and representation of Black students in the eye care industry to better mirror the 13% of Black people in the current U.S. population. In addition, the partnership will include annual scholarships for Black third-year optometry students; leadership development programs; mentoring, and more.

Voya Investment Management has agreed to acquire small-cap growth specialist Tygh Capital Management. Following the closing of the transaction,TCM’s current employees will join Voya IM, including Richard Johnson (CEO and CIO), Jeff Curtis (president and CFO), and the portfolio management team of Michael Coyne, CFA; Scott Haugan, CFA; and Mitchell Brivic, CFA.

Nationwide’s pet insurance business and Cigna are working together to educate older adults about how to reap the health benefits of owning a pet and how pet health insurance can help them protect the companions that are so vital to their wellbeing. With this collaboration, older adults are encouraged to learn more protecting their health with Cigna and protecting their pet’s health with Nationwide.

Janus Henderson Group announced that CEO Dick Weil will retire, effective March 31, 2022. The Board has begun an internal and external search process to identify a successor. To ensure a seamless transition, Weil will remain in his role until March and assist Janus Henderson with the transfer of responsibilities, serving as an adviser to the company through the end of June.

Horizon Investments announced two key promotions from within its senior leadership team:

• Danielle Learned has been promoted from Director of Client Operations to Chief of Staff. She is the first woman to join Horizon’s Executive Committee.
• Stephen Terry has been promoted from Head of Finance to Chief Financial Officer.

Ceridian, a provider of human capital management (HCM) technology, has acquired all of the assets of DataFuZion HCM, an HCM technology company. The acquired technology includes specific features for certified payroll reporting, prevailing wage rate calculations, incentive payments, union rate calculations, and complex general ledger reporting.

athenahealth Inc., a provider of cloud-based enterprise software solutions for medical groups and health systems, has agreed to be jointly acquired by affiliates of Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman for $17 billion. The investor group also includes Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital, which will each retain a minority investment in athenahealth, as well as other new coinvestors, including GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).