DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. (“Mercer Advisors”), a national Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), today announced the acquisition of Waypoint Capital Advisors (“Waypoint”), an investment advisory and financial planning firm that manages nearly $1 billion in client assets for ultra-high-net-worth (“UHNW”) individuals and families.
Based in Minneapolis and serving families across the United States, Waypoint is redefining the family office experience to solve the unique challenges faced by generationally wealthy families. Since its founding in 2015, Waypoint has been focused on the entirety of families’ financial lives and strives to bring simplicity to each client relationship. It accomplishes this via a straightforward approach that demystifies the confusion surrounding fees, planning and trusted advisor coordination. Waypoint will expand on how it serves UHNW clients and multigenerational families by tapping into Mercer Advisors specialists and capabilities in these areas.
“Partnering with Mercer Advisors for our next phase of growth was the clear choice. We have the shared vision of providing clients with personalized fiduciary financial advice that not only helps them execute their financial plans, but also fulfills their life plans,” said Jon Kennedy, CEO & Managing Partner at Waypoint. “Mercer Advisors will be a long-term home for our 12 professionals, who are excited to access the full-service wealth management services, resources, and capabilities of a high caliber RIA.”
Martine Lellis, Principal, M&A Partner Development at Mercer Advisors, added, “We were very impressed with the strength of Waypoint’s client base and track record of growth. The like-minded approach to family office services was immediately apparent and will add depth to our existing offering. Our approach to serving families of significant means combines our rigor in the design and execution of financial plans, in addition to extending our capabilities in investment management, tax efficiency and philanthropy.”
The acquisition of Waypoint bolsters Mercer Advisors’ UHNW practices that specialize in serving families with generational wealth who require comprehensive family office services, including access to differentiated private investments, dedicated tax, estate, and investment strategists and more. By integrating expertise within a single team, Mercer Advisors provides a bespoke investment management and planning experience for families.
“Waypoint is a terrific complement to Mercer Advisors and will deepen the depth and breadth of our teams focused on serving multi-family offices and ultra-high-net-worth families,” said Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors. “They have built a team with deep expertise managing, coordinating and solving the unique needs of generationally wealthy families. Importantly, they do so in a way that aligns the firm to act in the best interest of their clients.”
For more information about partnering with Mercer Advisors, please visit merceradvisors.com/acquisitions.
About Mercer Advisors
Mercer Advisors, the #1 ranked RIA firm in the nation according to the Barron’s 2024 Top 100 Registered Investment Advisor Firms, was founded in 1985. For nearly 40 years, Mercer Advisors has been trusted to help families amplify and simplify their financial lives. The company offers comprehensive, fee-based family office services, including financial planning, estate and tax planning, insurance solutions, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. Mercer Advisors Inc. is a parent company of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. and is majority owned by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital, and Altas Partners. Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is privately held, has 1,170+ employees, and operates nationally through more than 90 locations. Mercer Advisors has $66 billion in client assets. For more information, visit merceradvisors.com and merceradvisors.com/acquisitions.
Important Information
Company statistics as of September 30, 2024. Client assets refer to client assets under management (AUM) and client asset under advisement (AUA) as well as assets gained from recent acquisitions where the advisory agreements have been properly assigned to Mercer Global Advisors, but the custodial accounts have yet to be transferred and/or the accounts have yet to be migrated to Mercer Global Advisors’ portfolio management system.
Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All estate planning documentation preparation and other legal advice is provided through select third parties unaffiliated to Mercer Advisors. Tax preparation and tax filing are a separate fee from Mercer Advisors’ investment management and planning services. Trustee services are offered through select third parties with which a client would engage directly, as such additional fees may apply. Mercer Global Advisors has a related insurance agency. Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercer Advisors Inc. Employees of Mercer Global Advisors serve as officers of MAIS. MAIS provides individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through various insurance companies.
2024 - Barron’s Top 100 RIA methodology: Mercer Advisors was ranked number 1 for firms with fewer than $70 billion in client assets. In 2024 Barron’s ranked the largest registered investment advisor firms separately from its broader RIA ranking. For Barron’s Mega RIAs list, they selected firms that manage 2% or more of the total assets of all ranking applicants. This year, that created a threshold of $70 billion in assets. Advisers who wish to be ranked fill out a 100+ question survey about their practice. Barron’s verifies that data with regulatory databases and then Barron’s applies their rankings formula to the data to generate a ranking. The formula features three major categories of calculations: (1) Assets (2) Revenue (3) Quality of practice. In each of those categories Barron’s does multiple sub calculations including asset type, growth, client retention, technology spending, succession planning, diversity of their teams, charitable and philanthropic work and compliance records.
Neither rankings and/or recognitions by unaffiliated rating services, publications, media, or other organizations, should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if Mercer Advisors is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. Rankings published by magazines, and others, generally base their selections exclusively on information prepared and/or submitted by the recognized adviser. Rankings are generally limited to participating advisers (see participation criteria/methodology). Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, Mercer Advisors did not pay a fee to be included on any such ranking. No ranking or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of Mercer Advisors by any of its clients.
