Mercer World Advisors, a quickly rising “integrator” of registered funding advisors, immediately introduced the acquisition of The Asset Advisory Group, a Cincinnati-based RIA managing roughly $370 million in property for round 160 purchasers.
Based in 1988 by Jeannette Jones, TAAG affords a three-tiered enterprise mannequin targeted round planning, funding and administration. Jones was joined by her accomplice, TAAG President David “Chip” Workman, in 2008.
“Our purchasers are like household to us, and as fiduciaries we put their pursuits above our personal,” stated Jones, in an announcement saying the deal. “This fiduciary mandate additionally requires us to arrange for the day that neither myself nor Chip can be round to serve them. It’s due to this fact incumbent on us to develop a succession technique to ensure our purchasers proceed to obtain the very best skilled care lengthy after Chip and I are not with the enterprise.”
Jones stated that neither she nor Workman have plans to retire within the close to time period, however the want for a succession plan was “clear and current” and promoting the agency would resolve that want whereas additionally permitting each companions to focus extra on their purchasers who can now entry a broader set of companies obtainable by way of a platform like Mercer.
“[W]e discovered extraordinarily excessive cultural alignment between our two companies starting with placing purchasers’ pursuits first, and in addition taking nice care of our groups,” stated Workman. “We additionally cherished that they’ve in-house property planning, in-house tax return preparation, and supply turnkey company trustee companies together with invoice pay.
“Jeannette and Chip have constructed a top-tier RIA that leads with monetary planning that delivers advisor alpha to their purchasers every single day. That is precisely the enterprise mannequin we’ve got constructed on high of our household workplace chassis,” stated David Barton, head of M&A at Mercer.
“[T]inheritor model is robust,” stated Mercer CEO Dave Welling. “We’re thrilled to be increasing our presence in Ohio with a workforce that has deep connections to the neighborhood.”
Based in 1985, Denver-based Mercer has now added 69 companies. Majority investments by non-public fairness companies Oak Hill Capital and Genstar Capital allowed the RIA to considerably ramp up mergers and acquisitions exercise lately and Mercer has added 15 new companies in 2022 with roughly $6.6 billion in collective AUM. With one other scheduled to shut by the tip of the month, it’s among the many quickest rising RIAs within the nation, claiming greater than $38 billion in consumer property.