The buying binge continues for Mercer Global Advisors, which announced the acquisition of M.J. Smith and Associates, a $910 million advisory firm based in Denver.
The deal follows Mercer’s June 30 announcement of a $330 million RIA acquisition, and the acquisition of a $554 million RIA on June 1.
Mercer, which now oversees approximately $20 billion in client assets, has been one of the more aggressive consolidators in the wealth management space in recent years.
Mark Smith, who founded M.J. Smith in 1983, said the sale was at least partially motivated by the need for a succession plan.
“Despite all of our growth and success, we knew we were at the place of needing to build a robust internal or external succession plan,” he said. “We also understood that reaching true scale would require additional significant expenditure. The confluence of these forces drove me to reach out to Mercer Advisors.”
Mercer vice chairman Dave Barton said of the newest addition: “Mark and his team of high integrity, high quality planners that truly put their clients’ interest first.”
“It’s not just some throw-away line in their Form ADV; our cultural alignment is very high, sharing the same mission, vision, and values and always putting our clients’ interests before our own,” Barton said. “Mark has also built a large firm presenting a complex transaction involving many moving parts including adding a new custodian, addressing Finra broker-dealer operational aspects, to name a few.”
While industry statistics pointing to a succession crisis can cause alarm, advisor-owners should be free to consider a middle path between staying solo and catching the surging wave of M&A.
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