NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) announced today that Prudential Retirement has reached a definitive agreement with Union Bank of California, N.A., (NYSE:UB) to acquire a portion of the bank's retirement book of business and add the firm's Highmark(R) mutual funds to its investment offerings for retirement plan sponsors and their participants. Prudential Retirement is a business of Prudential Financial, Inc.

"This acquisition underscores Prudential's commitment to market leadership in the retirement business and expands our overall presence on the West Coast, an important and growing retirement market," said Christine Marcks, president of Prudential Retirement.

The transaction will also enable Prudential to build and enhance its relationships with Union Bank's bankers, who will be able to offer Prudential Retirement products and services to their institutional banking customers.

"It also adds significant scale to our product-and-service platforms, helping us to continue to develop and deliver retirement-planning solutions that help our clients succeed and help plan participants build and achieve a more secure retirement," Marcks added.

Under terms of the agreement, Prudential will pay $103 million for Union Bank's book of retirement business, comprising approximately 670 plans, representing nearly 170,000 participants and approximately $8 billion in account values.

The companies expect to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2007 and complete the transition of the acquired retirement plans by June 30, 2008. Consummation of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and non-profit organizations. Services include state-of-the-art record keeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee investment education and communications, and trustee services. With over 80 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of nearly 3.2 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $157 billion in retirement account values as of September 30, 2007.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) , a financial services leader with approximately $637 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2007, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company's well-known Rock symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit www.prudential.com.

Prudential Retirement, Prudential Financial, PRU, Prudential and the Rock logo are registered service marks of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, NJ, and its affiliates.

Insurance products and services are provided by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, NJ or its affiliates.

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Source: Prudential Financial, Inc

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