Mercer Advisors expands strategic investor group with equity investment from Altas Partners.

Denver-based Mercer Advisors, a RIA with assets under management of about $48 billion, expanded this week its set of investors by adding Altas Partners. 

Altas joins Mercer Advisors’ current strategic investors, Genstar Capital and Oak Hill Capital, and over 300 Mercer Advisors employees who own equity in the company. The transaction is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2023, the firm said in a statement.

Mercer Advisors is a national fiduciary wealth-management firm that provides a family office for families ranging from mass affluent to ultra-high-net-worth, and serves a spectrum of institutional clients, including companies, endowments, and foundations. 

Welcoming the move, Dave Welling, chief executive officer of Mercer Advisors, said: “We have had an outstanding partnership with Genstar and Oak Hill for many years and chose Altas as our newest strategic investor because they believe in our mission, purpose, and strategy and are committed to support continued investment in capabilities that will allow us to enhance the way we serve our clients.”

“We are unabashedly client-focused first, second, and always. Each year we continue to make significant investments in our people, new services, new technology, and new offerings, all geared to serve clients better and drive our future growth. With over 300 employee-owners representing over one-third of our employees, we are proud to have the broadest number and percentage of employee ownership in the firm’s history, which is noteworthy in the independent RIA industry,” he added. 

“Our strategic investors have supported our vision to expand ownership opportunities to all full-time employees and beyond the common elite and exclusive “partners only” model that is still prevalent in the RIA industry,” he said.

Paul Emery, partner at Altas, added: “Through its leadership, operational excellence and strategic acquisitions, Mercer Advisors has rapidly scaled and established a leading position in a fragmented industry, all while staying true to its client-centric culture.” 

“This investment aligns extremely well with our distinctive strategy of identifying one or two high quality businesses each year that we believe are positioned to grow meaningfully and deliver lasting value to our partners,” he said.

Tony Salewski, managing partner of Genstar, added: “We are grateful for the partnership with Mercer Advisors, and the entire management team, as they have built a leading wealth management platform, growing their assets from approximately $5.7 billion to $48 billion, since our original investment in 2015.  Importantly, as Mercer Advisors has grown, it has never sacrificed its commitment to serving its clients and helping them achieve their financial goals. We are excited to continue as investors with Oak Hill and Altas as Mercer Advisors embarks on yet another phase of robust growth.”

Mercer has been one of the most prominent acquirers of wealth management firms in the North American market. The RIA has been acquiring a mass of US wealth businesses, most recently buying RMR Wealth Advisors, a firm based in Madison, Wisconsin. See more here.

Raymond James served as a lead financial advisor, and Paul Weiss served as legal counsel to Mercer Advisors on this latest transaction. Mercer Advisors management and employees were also supported by Katzke & Morgenbesser as legal counsel and Jamieson Corporate Finance US as an advisor. Goldman Sachs served as a financial advisor, and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Altas Partners on the transaction.