Houlihan Lokey Advises Annexus

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Annexus has been acquired by Integrity Marketing Group. This historic partnership between innovative market leaders will empower agents and advisors to deliver expanded holistic life, health, and wealth solutions to American consumers. The transaction closed on August 23, 2022.

Annexus is an influential industry pioneer that develops financial and insurance products—including fixed indexed annuities (FIA) and indexed universal life insurance policies (IUL)—for leading insurance companies. In addition to product development, Annexus provides a full range of marketing, technology, and illustration systems to its distribution partners. The company's innovative FIA and IUL products are designed to help Americans make the most of their retirement assets. They are developed with extensive input from carriers, as well as leading actuaries and asset managers, and are distributed through an elite group of advisors and financial professionals. As former financial advisors and lifelong industry innovators, Annexus Co-Founders Ron Shurts and Don Dady bring a specialized understanding of client needs and expectations to their product design. Since its founding in 2006, Annexus has served over half a million Americans with their retirement needs. In 2022, Annexus expects to place approximately $7 billion in annuity premium and $150 million in target life insurance premium.

Integrity, a leading distributor of life and health insurance and a provider of wealth management and retirement planning solutions, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Annexus, the foremost independent insurance and financial product design and distribution company. As part of the transaction, Ron Shurts, who is also CEO of Annexus, will become a Managing Partner in Integrity. Previous Annexus investors, including funds managed by Blackstone, will sell their interests as part of the transaction. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Visionary companies across multiple industries are choosing to align their expansive success with Integrity. The Integrity platform creates unprecedented opportunities for collaboration where leaders are thoughtfully innovating every aspect of life, health, and wealth protection.

Through Integrity's best-in-class platform, Annexus will gain access to a breadth and depth of proprietary technology and resources. These include industry-leading real-time quoting and enrollment systems, customer relationship management software, and ongoing product development. Integrity partners are supported by a substantial infrastructure that streamlines business services and administration. Services include areas such as people and culture, technology and innovation, legal and compliance, and access to Integrity's world-class advertising and marketing firm.

Enhancing all these benefits gives Annexus employees the opportunity to enjoy meaningful company ownership through Integrity's impactful employee ownership plan.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Annexus and assisted in initiating, marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on its behalf.