Mercer offloads pensions admin business to PE-backed MBO

Mercer is offloading its UK pensions and US health and benefits administration businesses to a new entity called Aptia, funded by global private equity house Bain Capital.
The new entity will manage benefits for over 5 million people across more than 1,100 companies, delivering employee benefits in the US and pensions administration in the UK.
The company will be led by a management team that includes Bala Viswanathan, CEO, and Dominic Burke, chairman, both of whom have worked at both Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) and Marsh McLennan.
Burke was the group CEO of JLT from 2005 to 2019, and then served as a vice chairman of Marsh McLennan. During his leadership tenure at JLT, he drove the business from an enterprise value of £450m to £5bn.
Viswanathan took over the reins at JLT UK Employee Benefits at the end of 2015, succeeding Duncan Howarth. He became COO of Mercer in 2018.
The transaction is expected to be concluded towards the end of 2023.
Viswanathan said: “”Aptia will focus exclusively on employee benefits administration and specialist pension administration delivered by experts and enabled by technology. In partnership with Bain Capital, we will seek to create a genuinely differentiated and highly responsive client experience that will resonate strongly in the marketplace.”
Burke said: “Digital enablement is underpenetrated in these sectors. We see a clear opportunity to empower our people by continuously investing in the leading technologies they need to efficiently deliver specialized client solutions. We will also prioritize our people from day one by establishing a supportive learning culture that offers the foundation for growth and development both in and outside of the workplace.”