The Beneficient Company (BEN), a provider of liquidity and administrative services for holders of alternative assets and illiquid investment funds, is to acquire Provident Trust Group, an independent administrator and custodian of over USD3 billion of self-directed retirement accounts.
Financial terms of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, have not been disclosed.
Provident Trust Group’s clients range from small family trusts to multi-million dollar accounts, including individuals, multi-generational families, family offices and retirement accounts. Provident serves as an intermediary custodian between general partner sponsors of private equity, real estate and hedge funds and the Provident clients investing their retirement accounts in alternative assets.
Brad K Heppner, founder and chief executive officer of The Beneficient Company, says: “The acquisition of Provident is an important step for the continued growth of our platform, particularly our expansion into the high net worth (HNW) market through our funding of alternative asset liquidity plans and providing investment administration services and alternative asset insurance products. With our acquisition of Provident, BEN expects to serve an established market of 20,000 self-directed retirement accounts dedicated to alternative investments, representing over USD3 billion in custodial assets. Each of these retirement accounts is owned by individuals to whom BEN intends to offer funding through its liquidity plans for alternative assets that have been tailored to meet the estate and tax planning needs of HNW individuals. We believe that our asset servicing platform is unparalleled in the alternative asset sector.
“We very much look forward to welcoming and drawing on the HNW expertise of Provident’s team, whose extensive knowledge of the market complements BEN’s existing expertise in working with institutional investors. We are very excited about the company we have built, which we believe is best in class.”
Jason V Helquist, co-founder and president of Provident Trust Group, says: “We look forward to joining the Beneficient team and to helping further expand this exciting platform. We expect that our clients will greatly benefit from the liquidity plans and services that BEN offers to investors in alternative assets. BEN has done exceptional work in the institutional market and we believe our combined capabilities will help to replicate that success in the high net worth space.”
