A few hours after news broke of Broadridge's purchase of NewRiver [see the article], Broadridge senior vice president Geoff de Lesseps spoke to The MFWire.com about the deal.

"We've known each other for quite some time," de Lesseps said. "There's an obvious synergy between the two firms... We evaluated changes the summary prospectus would make and the opportunities it creates. This is the right time for us to do a deal."

Broadridge did not use an investment banker, according to de Lesseps. NewRiver, as previously reported, used Raymond James & Associates as its financial advisor on the transaction.

NewRiver has two offices -- one in Andover, Massachusetts and one in New Delhi, India -- and Broadridge plans to maintain both.

What is not immediately clear is how many NewRiver employees will become part of Broadridge. NewRiver has 70-plus employees in Andover and 200 in New Delhi.

As for NewRiver CEO Russ Planitzer, he will "transition from his day to day activities running the business to a consultative role in the short-term," according to de Lesseps.

Ties between Broadridge and NewRiver go back almost 10 years, with NewRiver serving as a supplier to Broadridge.

For post-sale materials such as confirmations and prospectuses, Broadridge uses NewRiver's data warehouse. Broadridge makes use of NewRiver's print on demand capabilities.

"With the movement toward summary prospectuses, there are more opportunities to do print on demand in the future," de Lesseps said.

Another reason for doing the deal was that it "allows us to have more products and services for mutual fund firms, retirement plan providers and insurers," he added. Also, the purchase "provides a nice opportunity to resell FundPOINT to a variety of customers." 

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