Passing down black wealth

By David Watkins

Two of the nations oldest Black-owned financial services firms have merged to create an entity that will manage over $16 billion in life insurance and $42 billion in assets according to Black Enterprise magazine.

Atlanta Life Financial Group, founded in 1905 by Alonzo Franklin Herndon, a former slave, recently acquired another Atlanta- based financial firm Jackson Securities. The merger was completed on January 17. Financial terms of the deal were never disclosed.

During Atlanta’s Life’s history, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, Atlanta Lige acquired a series of black owned insurance companies. Atlanta Life Insurance has more than $16 billion worth of life insurance and has roughly $200 million assets, while Atlanta Life Investment Advisors, which was founded in 2001, has more than $700 million in assets under management.

Jackson Securities, a full service investment bank created 20 years ago by former Atlanta Mayor Maynard H. Jackson, will continue to carry its name and its senior management team, and will be a subsidiary of the Atlanta Life Financial Group.

For more information pick up a copy of Black Enterprise magazine today.