Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and Acquisitions will almost always have a quick and dramatic impact on retirement benefits, and they offer big challenges to both buyer and seller. The terms of merger and acquisition agreements are varied, but usually the company acquiring the employees of another will have the responsibility of assuring that the new employees have an agreed upon retirement benefit that is harmonized with the acquiring company’s existing retirement benefits. When both defined contribution and defined benefit plans are under consideration the challenges are the greatest, but even when only defined contribution plans (1165(e) and 401(k)) are on the table there are still serious considerations and quick and impactful decisions that have to be made. The results of non-optimal decisions can have long-term financial and administrative consequences for either or both companies, so great care should be taken to proceed appropriately.
It is best to know the retirement plan scenarios before entering into merger and acquisition discussions and agreements, and SGP Consultants can assist at that stage, but when that isn’t possible, we can still help avoid plan design mistakes and hasty service provider decisions that would make the future more difficult.
After we tame the components of the legal and financial transaction, the rest can be parsed into the components of plan design, communications, documentation, staff training, and vendor review and selection for record keeping, trust and investment options.
Please click on the other tabs in this section [Plan Design and Changes, Communications, Documentation & Training, Vendor Review & Selection] that describe what we do in each of these areas of service.
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