Retirement plan M&A panelists say cultural fit should outweigh top bid

Retirement plan advisers weighing a sale should look harder at a buyer's culture, leadership structure and growth strategy than at the top bid, panelists said Tuesday at the PLANADVISER360 Conference in Orlando, Florida, according to PLANADVISER — Advice.

For an adviser comparing offers, the panelists said the checks that matter are the buyer's leadership structure, integration plan and long-term business priorities, which in their experience affect post-close satisfaction more than purchase-price negotiations. The session was titled "Adviser M&As: Do's and Don'ts."

Barbara Delaney, principal at StoneStreet Renaissance Benefit Advisory Group, a member firm of Global Retirement Partners LLC, said she bought and sold her practice two different times. In 2003 she was part of National Retirement Partners Inc., which was sold to LPL Financial and later reconstituted as Global Retirement Partners; in 2019 she sold StoneStreet's assets to Hub International Ltd. She said she is no longer part of Hub, left the firm in 2025, still works with her clients daily, and that Hub runs the back office. Her sale, she said, was motivated by succession planning, access to capital and the prospect of accelerating growth.

Sean Bjork, senior vice president at Hub Retirement and Wealth Management, sold his practice, Global Retirement Partners LLC, to Hub this year. He said that scaling independently would have required significant hiring, a merger with another advisory firm or joining a larger organization, and that after going down all three roads he concluded he did not want to be a builder. Bjork said sellers should seek a trusted M&A adviser and banker to help normalize deal structures across competing offers.