Eldridge, Atlas Merchant doubling down on annuity provider DPL Financial

The two private investors are investing $20 million of additional capital in the commission-free insurance specialist.

High-profile private investors Eldridge and Atlas Merchant Capital are upping their stakes in commission-free insurance specialist DPL Financial Partners.

DPL, which runs an insurance management platform for registered investment advisers, announced Wednesday that two of its outside investors, Todd Boehly’s Eldridge and Robert Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital are investing a combined $20 million of additional capital into the company. The firms had already invested $26 million in DPL and are represented on its board of directors.

According to DPL, the new investment coincides with its surpassing $1 billion in commission-free annuity purchases by advisers on behalf of their clients. DPL also said that its members have placed approximately $825 million in commission-free life insurance through its platform, which currently serves an RIA base of more than 3,500 firms.

David Lau, founder and CEO of DPL, said the new “growth capital” validates the “new distribution paradigm that puts investors first through the elimination of sales commissions.”

“The insurance industry needs to catch up to the low cost, commission-free products of the rest of the financial industry,” Lau said. “To be backed by these two titans of the financial services world confirms that to be the case.”

The new money will fund technology development, he said, including the expansion of a suite of product discovery and comparison tools that will enable advisers to compare a range of commission-free annuity products from leading carriers. DPL will also use the funds to expand its head count, already up to 75 from 50 at the beginning of the year.

Eldridge was founded by former Guggenheim Partners president Todd Boehly, while Atlas Merchant Capital was co-founded by former Barclay’s CEO Bob Diamond.

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