ACA Group Announces Agreement to Acquire UMB Distribution Services, LLC

Acquisition expands ACA Foreside’s distribution leadership, now distributing and servicing over an estimated $2 trillion in assets.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACA Group (ACA), the leading provider of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions to clients in the financial services industry, today announced its intent to acquire the broker-dealer distribution business from UMB Fund Services, a subsidiary of UMB Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: UMBF) (UMB). The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024.

ACA’s distribution division, ACA Foreside, is the industry’s largest third-party distributor by number of funds, currently distributing and servicing $2 trillion in assets across hundreds of fund families. The lift out of UMB’s distribution business expands ACA Foreside’s internal distribution team, co-led by Teresa Cowan and Chris Lanza, and will include the addition of asset management clients with mutual fund, exchange-traded fund (ETF), and closed-end fund products. The transaction will introduce over $48 billion in client assets to ACA and allow current UMB clients the ability to leverage ACA’s expansive advisory support and industry-leading technology.

“We are thrilled to announce this acquisition, which is a pivotal moment in our journey to continue redefining the landscape of financial services. 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,” said Chris Lanza, Partner and Co-head of ACA Foreside.

“We are excited about the opportunities this acquisition brings to our strategic growth vision alongside the ability to expand our market presence and deliver exceptional value to our clients and stakeholders,” shared Patrick Olson, Chief Executive Officer at ACA.

ACA Foreside will be responsible for legal underwriting services, marketing material review, registered representative licensing and supervision, negotiating and maintaining broker-dealer selling agreements, and more. This would be ACA’s sixth acquisition in the past three years.

“This transaction supports our efforts to focus on our core competencies and continue strategically growing our fund administration, fund accounting and transfer agency business,” said Maureen Quill, Executive Vice President, Executive Director for Registered Funds of UMB Fund Services. “We will continue to service many of these clients through our core lines of business and look forward to maintaining and growing those relationships. We are confident our clients will have a smooth and seamless transition for distribution services through both UMB’s and ACA Foreside’s continued focus on delivering best-in-class service.”

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About ACA

ACA Group (ACA) is the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services. For over 20 years, we’ve empowered our clients to reimagine GRC to launch, grow, and protect their business. Our global team of 1,250 employees includes former regulators and practitioners with a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape. Our innovative approach integrates advisory, managed services, distribution solutions, and analytics with our ComplianceAlpha^® technology platform. For more information, visit www.acaglobal.com.

About UMB

UMB Fund Services, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., offers a complete line of products and services to the fund industry, including fund administration, fund accounting, tax, investor services and transfer agency, and custody.* It serves more than 360 clients with combined assets of more than $440 billion as of April 30, 2024. For more information, visit UMB Fund Service’s website. *Service provided by affiliate.