Mercer Advisors is bolstering its presence in the ultra-affluent wealth space with the acquisition of another mega-practice. The national RIA announced that it has acquired Seattle-based MDK Wealth Management.
Established in 2020 by a trio of co-founders, MDK caters to the ultra-high-net-worth segment and has more than $2.5 billion in assets under supervision.
According to Mercer Advisors CEO Dave Welling, the acquisition of MDK gives his firm an expanded Pacific Northwest footprint, as well as a stronger presence in the Seattle area.
“MDK is a respected multifamily office led by highly qualified professionals with deep expertise serving the ultra-high-net-worth space,” Welling said in a statement.
MDK, which offers a comprehensive range of family office services including financial planning, investment management, and private banking, positions itself as a pivotal "financial quarterback" for its clientele.
Emphasizing a goals-based planning approach, it also offers bespoke services such as trust and estate planning, tax planning, and executive planning, as well as private aviation and boat advisory services.
"[W]e have built a white glove multifamily office designed to serve our UHNW clients with exceptional umbrella care,” said Chris Kalafatis, one of the co-founders of MDK.
Kalafatis is an industry veteran with almost two decades of experience, including six years registered with Finra and nearly a dozen years with the SEC.
“While we have done that, we also wanted to build out our scale creating a platform for institutional and ongoing care,” Kalafatis said.
"After an exhaustive search, we chose to partner with Mercer Advisors, a national family wealth office that provides estate planning, tax consulting and return preparation, corporate trustee, and ERISA plan services all in-house led by subject matter experts," said Jaimi Dennehy, another MDK co-founder.
Paul Meyer, MDK’s third co-founder, highlighted the practice’s capability to offer a “Mayo Clinic approach to financial care” with support from the “panoply of subject matter experts” at Mercer Advisors.
"This partnership is built on a shared vision of offering unparalleled service to the UHNW community," said David Barton, vice chairman at Mercer Advisors, David Barton, who played a crucial role in facilitating the acquisition.
Headquartered in Denver, Mercer Advisors manages over $56 billion in client assets.
Last month, it deepened its bench of talent by recruiting five veteran RIA industry veterans to its M&A partner development team.
Prior to that, it welcomed a Denver-based wealth practice, Transitions Wealth Management, which manages $465 million for over 600 clients.
A new MetLife survey finds real estate professionals are increasingly steering clients toward tax experts as rising property values leave more sellers facing significant capital gains.
The independent broker-dealer expands its business development bench with a new recruiter and an internal promotion in the West.
The leading ultra-high-net-worth RIA joins other large wealth firms, including Raymond James and LPL, in creating executive roles focused on artificial intelligence strategy
New Preqin-powered benchmarks add transparency to private equity and credit performance across BlackRock's platforms.
Supervision vice chair speaks following recent launch of AI adoption practices by regulators.
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
Direct indexing is on pace to outgrow ETFs and mutual funds. Northern Trust's Ken Lassner explains why the advisors who get it wish they had started sooner.
