PROVIDENCE – Altus Systems Inc. has agreed to sell its employee-benefits administration division to Manchester, N.H.-based Benefits Strategies LLC.
“Altus Benefit Administrators and Benefit Strategies are recognized as two of the most successful employee-benefit administrators in New England,” Joseph A. Nagle, president and CEO of Altus Systems, said in a statement late Friday.
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“When the opportunity arose to join forces with Benefit Strategies, it was just too good to pass up,” he said. “Combining the talent and resources of both entities will create even better service solutions for our respective customers.”
The deal is slated to close May 1, “at which time current Altus Benefit Administrators employees will become employees of Benefit Strategies,” the companies said in their joint announcement. Altus customers “will continue to be serviced by the same team of experts” in a transition Nagle pledged would be “seamless and transparent” to clients.
Financial terms were not disclosed. But the companies did say their agreement calls for Benefit Strategies to open a new sales and operations center in Rhode Island. That decision “will keep highly desirable professional-level jobs in the state” while also positioning the company for further growth, Nagle said.
Benefit Strategies currently serves more than 1,675 clients, from its headquarters in Manchester and a second office in Portland, Maine, posting total administrative revenue of more than $5.6 million per year. Altus Benefit Administrators serves more than 170 clients, which are concentrated in southern New England, from which it derives administrative revenue of more than $1.7 million. The combined entity is expected to generate more than $8 million in administrative revenue in 2009.
“We are extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to acquire Altus Benefit Administrators,” Benefit Strategies CEO Paul Smith said in the joint announcement. Since its founding in 2005, the Providence-based firm “has become a highly respected employee-benefits administration company. Its client list includes some of the most prestigious employers in southern New England.”
Nagle said the transaction will give Benefit Strategies “a singular focus on this line of business, add the necessary scale and provide the resources necessary to service clients with the tools they desire.”
He noted that the third-party administration business requires significant ongoing investments in technology software and infrastructure. By joining forces, Altus and Benefit Strategies will be able to avoid duplicating those capital investments, and direct those savings toward “supporting further growth and expanding the combined entity’s geographic footprint,” he said.
Benefit Strategies “will retain most of the Altus Benefit Administrators staff,” Angelo Pezullo, Altus Benefit Administrators’ vice president of sales, wrote today in a letter to Altus clients, adding that “the transition will be seamless and transparent.”
Altus Benefit Administrators, founded in 2005, is a provider of employee-benefit programs including COBRA, flexible-spending plans (FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements, retiree billing and leave-of-absence administrative services to more than 170 clients across southern New England. The company is a division of Altus Systems Inc. Additional information is available at www.AltusBenefitAdmin.com.
Benefit Strategies LLC, founded in 1989, is a provider of administrative services for retirement plans, COBRA, flexible-spending plans (FSAs), and health and welfare trusts to more than 1,675 clients across New England. Additional information is available at www.BenStrat.com.
