Benzinga | May 10, 2021 08:30AM EDT

Voya Financial To Acquire Benefit Strategies, LLC; Terms Not Disclosed

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA), announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Benefit Strategies, LLC, a leading third-party administrator of health savings and spending accounts.

Benefit Strategies provides administrative services for COBRA, direct billing, flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health savings accounts (HSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and other services to more than 3,400 employers and nearly 370,000 participant accounts throughout the U.S. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We are very excited about this transaction as it supports Voya's workplace growth strategy and will accelerate our expansion in the health savings and spending accounts market," said Rob Grubka, CEO of Health Solutions for Voya Financial. "In addition to complementing Voya's current health and wealth solutions, Benefit Strategies will deepen our capabilities to serve new and existing health savings and spending account clients through its enhanced call center support, implementation management and ongoing client services. Equally important, we see a great cultural fit between the Benefit Strategies team and Voya as both of our organizations are specifically focusedon helping individuals take advantage of the many benefits of workplace-based savings accounts."

"For more than 30 years, Benefit Strategies has been focused on helping our clients understand and achieve great value from the savings opportunities that FSAs, HSAs, and similar accounts can provide," said Paul Smith, CEO and founder, Benefit Strategies. "It is clear that Voya shares this same focus, and we see great opportunities for our current clients as a result of Benefit Strategies becoming part of the Voya family. I admire and appreciate the customer-centric focus that Voya is taking to help its clients address the many financial and health challenges that they are facing. This customer-centric approach has been tremendously valuable in helping Benefit Strategies stand apart, and we are looking forward to continuing to partner with brokers and our clients."

"We continue to see strong growth potential for Voya in the health savings and spending accounts business. With employees increasingly turning to the workplace for help to advance the financial well-being of their household, the health savings and spending accounts market is growing rapidly. Compared with 2019, assets in health savings accounts increased 25% and the number of new HSAs increased 6% in 2020, bringing the total number of HSAs to approximately 30 million in the U.S.1," added Grubka.

In addition to significantly adding to Voya's existing health savings and spending accounts business, the transaction will further enable Voya to leverage its expertise and capabilities in its Investment Management business, which currently manages invested assets in Voya's health savings accounts.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Approximately 150 Benefit Strategies employees, including Smith, will join Voya after the transaction closes.