“The acquisition of KCS underscores our commitment to delivering services to carriers, broker-dealers and other financial institutions that allow them to efficiently manage their compliance risk while expanding their producer force and generating revenue more quickly,” said Euan Menzies, president and CEO of Vertafore.
“We are committed to continuing full support of and investment in both KCS and Sircon products and look forward to providing the combined client base with an extremely robust and innovative solution. By integrating KCS into Sircon, Vertafore will provide all customers with the broadest, most comprehensive and proven best-in-class compliance solutions in the industry.”
KCS, an operating unit of Kaplan University’s School of Professional and Continuing Education (KU PACE), offers software and outsourcing solutions that streamline and automate the complex processes of on-boarding (such as producer contracting, securities registration, insurance licensing and appointing) and the producer and representative lifecycle (such as education tracking, renewal and data management). By doing this, KCS helps producers and registered representatives start selling sooner, reduce compliance risk and allow customers to focus on their core competencies.
“This acquisition is mutually beneficial for KCS and Vertafore’s Sircon business because it brings to the market a comprehensive and complementary set of compliance and education capabilities,” said Dr. Andrew Temte, CFA, president of KU PACE. “KCS securities functionality and business process outsourcing (BPO) capabilities combined with the real-time competencies of the Sircon business are the ingredients for innovation that will propel productivity gains for the entire compliance community.”
As part of the acquisition, KU PACE and Vertafore have entered into a joint marketing agreement whereby KU PACE will be a preferred education services provider for KCS/Sircon customers, allowing the organizations to bring to the market an integrated education/compliance solution.
The acquisition is expected to close late Q3 or early Q4 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.