Manulife Financial Corp. announced Tuesday it has completed its acquisition of New York Life’s retirement business.

The acquisition, which was previously announced, will be combined with John Hancock Retirement Plan Services. The added business boosts the retirement plan assets under administration by the firm by approximately 60 percent, to $135 billion.

The combined business will be headed by Peter Gordon, who is CEO of JHRPS. That means it now serves 55,000 retirement plans and 2.5 million plan participants.

Assets under management by Manulife and its subsidiaries were approximately $596 billion as of Dec. 31, 2014.

The firm said that the acquisition not only adds “significant scale and new capabilities” to its retirement plan services business within the U.S., but also gives it a strong position in the mid-case and large-case retirement plan markets within the U.S. and extends its position in the small-case market.

The transaction also complements recent investments in similar businesses in Canada and Asia.

“We are pleased to welcome the entire group of 450 employees who will help ensure the management transition is seamless for customers, advisors and businesses,” Gordon said of the transaction in a statement.

He added that there would be “no changes in systems, business locations, or service teams.”

Another transaction announced in December – in which New York Life agreed to assume a portion of some of John Hancock’s life insurance policies – is set to close later this year pending regulatory approvals.

Instant Insights /

Manulife wraps up buy of NY Life&rsquo;s retirement business

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Manulife wraps up buy of NY Life’s retirement business