For the principal architects of NewSpring Holdings’ purchase of Pasadena financial tech outfit Vertical Management Systems, old business connections led to a new deal.

While the transaction was largely based on the strength of Vertical’s market position as a compliance and data management platform for retirement and institutional planning clients, it was facilitated by NewSpring General Partner Jim Ashton’s years working alongside Vertical Chief Executive Kevin Rafferty and Chief Revenue Officer Bob Ward. The three all overlapped as executives at SunGard – now part of Fidelity National Information Services Inc.

Ashton said the trio has an opportunity to re-create a similar company by combining Vertical’s existing business and growing it with the help of Radnor, Pa.-based NewSpring’s operational expertise and capital to facilitate bolt-on acquisitions.

“It sort of feels like we’re reuniting to do a little bit of what we did together at SunGard,” Ashton said. “We’re starting a journey and we think we can build this out into something really special.”

Vertical declined to share financial details of the deal, but Ashton said NewSpring, which has about $1.6 billion in assets under management, deals in the lower middle market and that Vertical carries a market capitalization of less than $50 million.

Vertical, co-founded in 1992 by Brad Kuhlin and Vice President Robert Clancy, helps financial institutions process more than $600 billion in assets, 5 million accounts, and 500,000 trades annually. The company includes tier-one players such as Wells Fargo & Co. among its clients and has recently developed platforms that allow smaller retirement funds to access services provided by bigger outfits at a reduced cost.

Ward, who came aboard to run Vertical along with Rafferty in 2015, said the company was excited about the new opportunities created as a result of the sale. They are also planning to lean on their new private equity owner’s expertise to help grow the business.

“We’re very excited about the deal and having Jim and NewSpring’s wealth of knowledge at our disposal,” Ward said. “It’s going to be of terrific help going forward.”

While they don’t have immediate acquisition targets to bolster Vertical, Ashton and Ward said they would be on the lookout going forward with NewSpring having access to a wide range of deal flow.

Ashton added that as the baby boomer generation edges into retirement, the need for the types of services offered by Vertical is set to explode.

“The market is really primed right now,” he said. “The boomers are retiring and we think we can turn (Vertical) into a multihundred-million-dollar business.”

Ward said the company’s business plan, when stripped of technical jargon, is actually pretty simple. “We just want to make sure Americans can retire,” he said.