Principal Financial Group has completed its acquisition of Wells Fargo's institutional retirement and trust business, which had close to $830 billion in assets under administration as of the end of last year. Now begins an 18-month transition period to "seamlessly integrate" the Wells Fargo business, says Renee Schaaf, Principal's president of retirement and income solutions.
As a result of the acquisition, which was announced last April and cost $1.2 billion, Principal will ultimately double the size of its U.S. retirement business, expanding its reach into mid- to large-size retirement plans to serve a total 7.5 million retirement plan participants in 56,000 plans. (The firm has historically served small- to midsize businesses).