Russell Investments Announces Partnership With Venerable to Build New Multi-Manager Variable Annuity Platform

Russell Investments is leveraging its multi-manager investment, risk and implementation platform in a new strategic partnership with Venerable Holdings, Inc. (“Venerable”). Venerable today announced that Venerable Investment Advisers, LLC (“Venerable Advisers”), its new wholly-owned subsidiary, intends to engage Russell Investments to provide sub-advisory and administration services to funds in its newly formed Venerable Variable Insurance Trust (“VVIT”).

“We are thrilled to help Venerable deliver innovative investment solutions through its variable annuities platform,” said Russell Investments’ Chairman and CEO Zach Buchwald. “Variable annuities help millions retire with financial security, and our partnership with Venerable aims to improve both the investment experience and the operating model, allowing Venerable to focus on its policyholders.”

Tim Brown, President of Venerable Advisers, said, “It was important to select partners with the right capabilities and expertise as we establish Venerable Advisers. The deep investment management expertise of Franklin Templeton combined with the leading investment solutions of Russell Investments will be a tremendous asset to us. We appreciate the collaborative nature of the work done thus far and look forward to continued work with these partners as we continue to grow and optimize our business.”

“Our experience managing some of the largest pools of capital in the world has shown that an active multi-manager approach provides significant investment advantages over the long-term,” said Kate El-Hillow, President and Chief Investment Officer for Russell Investments. “But multi-manager investing is unavoidably complex, and this complexity can mean outsized costs for smaller asset managers.”

“For these providers—or firms that are simply cost-conscious—there are often hard choices to be made between a best-practice approach and a cost-efficient approach to ongoing investment management,” added El-Hillow. “Our new working relationship with Venerable is exciting because it shows that these trade-offs are no longer needed. Venerable can leverage our investment and implementation platform to create an efficient and flexible operating model as they establish and scale Venerable Advisers, and we look forward to helping them further their mission and drive enhanced outcomes for the company and policyholders.”

VVIT has filed a registration statement on Form N-1A with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for Venerable High Yield Fund, Venerable Large Cap Index Fund, Venerable Moderate Allocation Fund, Venerable Strategic Bond Fund, Venerable US Large Cap Core Equity Fund and Venerable US Large Cap Strategic Equity Fund, each an initial series of VVIT.

A multi-manager investing approach creates a footprint of ongoing research, diligence, compliance, and transition management duties, as well as negotiation, contracting, billing and procurement burdens. “Access to our integrated platform is designed to offer the best of both worlds for our clients: better outcomes and lower costs, with no loss of control,” El-Hillow concluded.

As also announced today, Venerable will engage investment advisory subsidiaries of Franklin Resources, Inc. (“Franklin Templeton”) to provide sub-advisory services with respect to certain funds in its newly formed VVIT.

About Russell Investments

Russell Investments is a global investment solutions firm providing a wide range of services to institutional investors, financial intermediaries and individual investors. The firm has $291.9 billion in assets under management (as of September 30, 2023) for clients in 30 countries. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Russell Investments has 17 offices in major financial centers, including New York, London, Paris, Toronto, Tokyo and Shanghai. For more information, please visit www.russellinvestments.com.

About Venerable

Venerable is a privately held company with business operations based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Des Moines, Iowa and New York, NY. Venerable owns and manages legacy variable annuity business acquired from other entities. Created by an investor group led by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc., Crestview Partners, Reverence Capital Partners, and Athene Holdings, Ltd., Venerable is a business with well-established, strategic investors, experienced in successfully building and growing insurance businesses with patient, long-term capital. For more information, please visit www.venerable.com.

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Intended for U.S. audience only.

A registration statement relating to VVIT has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information about a fund are contained in the prospectus. It is important to read and consider the prospectus carefully before investing. Copies of the preliminary prospectus are available online in the SEC’s EDGAR database under the name “Venerable Variable Insurance Trust” at www.sec.gov. Please note that the preliminary prospectus is subject to change.

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