Mercer Advisors on Thursday announced that it surpassed 100 M&A partner deals with the acquisitions of RIAs Tufton Capital Management in Hunt Valley, Maryland, and Lewis Wealth Management in Denver.
The national RIA’s milestone was reached nine years after starting its inorganic growth strategy in 2016, Mercer pointed out in a news release.
The Tufton and Lewis Wealth deals were finalized in April, a Mercer spokesperson told WSR.
With the two latest additions, Mercer now has over 620 employee shareholders. About 50% of the company’s employees are equity owners, it pointed out.
And the firm has no plans of slowing down its M&A strategy. “Activity for our Partner Development team is not slowing down,” according to Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors.
“We’ve had 12-15 M&A partnerships close in each of the past few years,” he told WSR. “We expect to meet or exceed that this year. In addition to small and mid-sized RIAs like Tufton and Lewis, we have several larger prospects in the pipeline as well as specialty firms in areas such as tax or trust.”
“Every partner firm that has joined Mercer Advisors has significantly enriched our culture, enhanced our ability to serve existing clients, and enabled us to reach even more families who can benefit from our services,” Welling said in a news release.
As new partners join Mercer, the firm adds capacity, talent, geographies and capabilities, it noted.
As an example, it pointed to Mercer growing from having an $800 million office in Atlanta to now having more than $5 billion in client assets in that market, “driven by several strategic acquisitions and robust organic growth.”
Mercer has also integrated seven firms with tax practices, bringing its in-house tax team to 80 professionals, it noted.
Meanwhile, the integration of several multi-family-office RIAs has augmented Mercer’s ultra-high net worth (UHNW) service model and private markets expertise, it said.
“We’re proud to have built a true partnership of professionals who have decided to work together with a shared belief that we can deliver better outcomes for families by working as a unified team,” said Daniel Gourvitch, Mercer President.
The Tufton Transaction
With the Tufton deal, Mercer has expanded its mid-Atlantic footprint, strengthened its presence in the greater Washington, D.C., market, and added $810 million in client assets, it said in a separate news release. Adding Tufton increases Mercer’s total client assets in the region to about $3 billion, the firm noted.
Tufton Capital owners Chad Meyer, its President and Managing Partner; Scott Murphy, its Portfolio Manager and Partner; and Eric Schopf, its Portfolio Manager, Partner and Director of Research, were “seeking a partner that could support their future growth while adding scale and support,” according to Mercer.
Tufton specializes in serving high net worth (HNW) and UHNW clients, with a “strong focus on cultivating long-term, multigenerational relationships,” Mercer said.
“With Mercer Advisors’ comprehensive family office capabilities, we believe we can better preserve, protect and grow our clients’ wealth so future generations can uphold their family legacies,” said Meyer.
“Chad, Scott, Eric and the entire Tufton Capital team have built a firm grounded in integrity, long-term client relationships and a deep commitment to fiduciary excellence,” according to Martine Lellis, Principal, M&A Partner Development at Mercer Advisors.
“Their personalized, value-oriented approach to wealth management aligns with our mission to help clients achieve financial peace of mind across generations,” she said.
InCap Group acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Tufton in the transaction.
The Lewis Wealth Deal
The addition of Lewis Wealth “enhances” Mercer’s almost $5.5 billion in assets under management (AUM) in Colorado across its eight offices and over 160 employees in the greater Denver area, Mercer said in the firm’s third news release on Thursday.
Led by Austin Lewis, its President, the firm manages about $75 million in client assets and serves 40 clients, according to Mercer.
“Joining Mercer Advisors provides me with the resources and support to serve my clients more comprehensively in the long term,” said Lewis. “Supported by this robust platform, I can focus on what matters most—helping our clients achieve their financial goals—while ensuring they benefit from a broader range of services and expertise. This partnership strengthens my commitment to fiduciary-first financial planning and positions my clients for sustained success well into the future.”
Since moving its headquarters to Denver in 2017, Mercer has grown its services in the region to over 2,200 families, it said.
Mercer has over 1,220 employees and more than 95 locations. The firm had a total of $71 billion in client assets as of Jan. 31, it said.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
