Mercer Global Advisors, an RIA consolidator with $31 billion in client assets, acquired advisor Andrew Farah’s $240 million AUM firm, AFI Wealth Strategies.
The Green Bay, Wis.–based firm, provides wealth and financial planning to high-net-worth individuals, families and their businesses, according to a recent news release.
“I built a successful and growing practice but had reached the limits of my capacity. To continue to add clients and grow I had to reinvent my business,” said Farah.
Being faced with a decision to build it or join it, Farah chose to join it. He said he was attracted to Mercer's business succession plans, back-office and human resources support, and in-house services such as estate planning and tax services that his clients could use.
"Together we hand-crafted Andy’s ongoing role as a member of the Mercer Advisors team where he continues to lead the Green Bay office and service his clients but with an army of support … to foster growth,” said David Barton, vice chairman of Mercer, in a statement. “Joining Mercer Advisors was not the end of AFI, just [the start of] AFI 2.0 under the Mercer Advisors’ banner.”
Barton told attendees of Wealth Management’s Inside Wealth Virtual conference in April that many advisors sell to a larger firm to gain access to myriad services for clients, rather than taking the more costly route of building those services in-house.
Oak Hill Capital–backed Mercer's most recent acquisitions occurred in the first quarter. It acquired Kays Financial Advisory, an $800 million in AUM firm in Atlanta; Marrs Wealth Management, an Iowa-based firm with $215 million in AUM; and Rowland Carmichael Advisors, an $850 million in AUM firm in Arizona.
It’s January acquisition spree came on the heels of one in December where it acquired seven RIAs. The transactions added a total of $3.9 billion in AUM and over 3,000 new clients.