Mercer adds $275M RIA in Iowa

Mercer Global Advisors has acquired River Glen Wealth Counselors, an RIA in West Des Moines, Iowa, that oversees $275 million in assets for 160 clients, Mercer announced Tuesday.

River Glen was founded in 2008 by Matt Busick, with Randy Von Fumetti adding his practice to the firm in 2015. Busick and Von Fumetti, who focus on relationship-based, holistic financial planning, said in a statement that the deal was driven by their interest in growing the business.

“Randy and I had reached that point in our business where we had to either invest significantly to scale our business to support further growth, or, alternatively, join a firm that had already made those investments and successfully institutionalized their business,” Busick said in the statement.

Upon meeting David Barton, who heads M&A for Mercer, “we realized we shared the same mission, vision and values around serving clients,” Busick said, adding that the deal with Mercer also allows his firm “to provide an expanded service offering to our clientele like in-house estate planning, tax return preparation, ERISA services, corporate trustee services, etc.”

Mercer, which is majority-owned by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital, and Altas Partners, manages more than $50 billion in assets from 80 locations across the U.S.

Other recent Mercer deals include the purchase of $465 million Transitions Wealth Management in Denver, $495 million Paragon Wealth Strategies in Jacksonville, Florida, and $95 million Brighton Financial Planning, which operates in New Jersey and South Carolina, in December, and the acquisition of $630 million Kingfisher Capital in Charlotte, South Carolina, in October.