Mesirow Acquires flexPATH’s 3(38) Fiduciary Business
Mesirow, a Chicago-based, employee-owned financial services firm with about $390.6 billion in assets under supervision, is pushing further into retirement plan asset management with the acquisition of flexPATH Strategies’ 3(38) custom investment management business.
The acquisition is the second that the firm’s Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions, which has $164 billion under management advisement, has made in the outsourced fiduciary space this year. It follows a May deal for LeafHouse Financial Advisors, a division of retirement plan investment solutions firm LeafHouse Financial Group. The flexPATH deal is slated to close in the fourth quarter.
“By combining flexPATH’s established custom portfolio business with Mesirow’s institutional scale, technology infrastructure and fiduciary expertise, we are further enhancing our ability to deliver differentiated retirement solutions,” said Michael Annin, president of Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions.
Mesirow declined to comment on the size of the flexPATH 3(38) business by assets currently overseen, adding through a spokesperson only that “this acquisition adds meaningful scale and supports the continued of the Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions platform.”
Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions currently has about 10,000 financial advisors across its practice providing ERISA fiduciary services, investment due diligence, reporting and custom default solutions to the retirement plan, health savings account and individual retirement account marketplaces.
Minneapolis-based flexPATH’s core offering is target date funds for retirement savings plans. The 3(38) business, which it is now shedding, provides fund selection for employer-sponsored retirement plans. In late 2025, the firm sold its assets and brand rights for its collective investment trust business, which was also used for retirement plan assets, to Great Gray Trust Company.
Mesirow’s move expands its work on assets regulated under the Employee Retirement and Income Securities Act in addition to its executive benefit services, wealth management and investment banking divisions.
It joins other wealth managers this week stressing the combination of workplace retirement plans and benefits and individual wealth management.
OpenArc Corporate Advisory announced it was expanding its institutional workplace services to include independent provider search consulting for retirement plan providers, “giving plan sponsors a single fiduciary partner across retirement, deferred compensation, equity compensation, health savings accounts and broader workplace benefits programs.” The RIA that launched last year after breaking away from Merrill Lynch had already had 3(38) and 3(21) fiduciary businesses to oversee plan assets.
On Monday, MissionSquare Retirement went in the other direction. The Washington, D.C.-based retirement plan product provider focused on government employees announced it expanded into personal wealth management services. The firm will offer brokerage accounts (including individual retirement accounts and taxable accounts), as well as a robo advisor that supports IRAs and taxable, non-qualified investment accounts.
DLA represented Mesirow in the transaction, and Ropes & Gray represented flexPATH.
