Nelnet announced this week it has completed the acquisition of Madison, Wis.-based Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc., making Nelnet the nation’s largest student loan servicer, Silicon Prairie News reported. Nelnet said it paid $150 million to Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. for 100 percent of the stock of Great Lakes, following the satisfaction of all required closing conditions. Great Lakes and Nelnet said they will continue to service their respective government-owned portfolios on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education while maintaining their distinct brands, independent servicing operations and teams. For nearly two years, Nelnet and Great Lakes have also been working together to develop a new servicing system for government-owned student loans. As of Sept. 30, 2017, Nelnet and Great Lakes were in charge of a combined 42 percent of the loans held by federal student loan borrowers and more than 40 percent of the balances, the most of any entity, according to this analysis piece by MarketWatch.