The folks at a publicly traded, Midwestern bank are preparing to sell one slice of their mutual fund back office business. The acquirer is a PE-backed firm whose team lays claim to being the largest third-party distributor in the fund business.

Christopher Conti "Chris" Lanza ACA Group Partner, Co-Head of ACA Foreside

Yesterday morning, Patrick Olson, CEO of New York City-based ACA Group, and Chris Lanza, partner and co-head of ACA Foreside (ACA's distribution division), unveiled a deal to buy UMB Distribution Services, LLC from Milwaukee-based UMB Fund Services (which in turn is part of UMB Financial Corporation). The pricing and terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, but it is expected to closed in Q4 2024.

A spokesperson for UMB clarifies that, despite an inaccurate early news report to the contrary, ACA is not buying UMB Fund Services itself. The ACA team notes that the lift out deal involves "over $48 billion in client assets," across closed-end funds, ETFs, and open-end mutual funds.

"This is an ancillary service to UMB's overall Fund Services business," the spokesperson tells MFWire. "There are approximately 20 customers utilizing this service today, the majority of whom do and will continue to have additional fund services business with UMB."

"A small number of associates are affected and all will be offered jobs at ACA," the spokesperson for UMB adds.

"We will continue to service many of these clients through our core lines of business and look forward to maintaining and growing those relationships," states Maureen Quill, executive vice president and executive director for registered funds at UMB Fund Services, adding that she expects "a smooth and seamless transition" for clients of UMB Distribution Services.

UMB Fund Services' team offers a variety of other fund back office services, including: administration, custody, fund accounting, and transfer agency. All told, the UMB Fund Services team supported more than $440 billion in assets for more than 360 clients as of April 30.

The ACA team notes that ACA Foreside, co-led by Lanza and Teresa Cowan, serves $2 trillion in assets "across hundreds of fund families." Lanza describes the UMB deal as "a pivotal moment" in ACA Foreside's journey.

"This strategic action underscores our commitment to innovation and positions us to better serve these clients with a comprehensive suite of compliance and technology solutions," Lanza states.

Olson puts the UMB deal in the context of ACA's "strategic growth vision." And Quill adds that the ACA deal suppots the UMB Fund Services team's "efforts to focus on ... core competencies and continue strategically growing ... fund administration, fund accounting and transfer agency business."

The ACA team notes that the UMB would be ACA's sixth acquisition in three years. News of the deal comes two years after ACA combined with Foreside, in May 2022. 

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