NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc. (Mercer) announced that it completed its acquisition of portions of Evaluation Associates, LLC, from Milliman, Inc., effective June 30, 2011. In a related transaction, Callan Associates Inc. acquired from Evaluation Associates its public sector investment consulting business.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Evaluation Associates, based in Norwalk, CT, with assets under advisement of approximately $200 billion and 115 clients, ranks as the 17th largest investment consulting firm worldwide.* Mercer has assets under advisement of $3.7 trillion.
This is Mercer’s second acquisition of an investment consulting firm in 2011, having completed its acquisition of Hammond Associates effective January 3, 2011. The Evaluation Associates acquisition further strengthens Mercer’s investment consulting in the US, and is an indication of the priority Mercer places on expanding this business.
“Mercer is committed to the investment business and is pursuing a strategy to increase our US market share both through organic growth and acquisition,” said Jeff Schutes, Mercer’s US investment consulting leader. “Mercer is investing in its business at a time when clients are demanding greater resources and depth of expertise from their investment consultants.”
Mr. Schutes observed, “Scale is of growing importance in investment consulting as clients seek diversification globally and demand a firm with expertise in alternatives. Not only does this acquisition provide Mercer with additional opportunity to build out our US capabilities, but it also makes available to Evaluation Associates clients the full global resources that Mercer can offer, including expertise in alternatives.”
Mr. Schutes added, “Evaluation Associates’ work in the wealth management segment complements the capabilities brought to Mercer by Hammond Associates, which was acquired earlier this year. We feel that this latest acquisition will strengthen our US investment consulting capabilities across important and growing client segments and expands our Defined Benefit (DB) and Defined Contribution (DC) consulting position.”
“This deal structure also illustrates Mercer’s willingness to look at a wide variety of US investment consulting acquisition opportunities, including firms with public sector clients,” Mr. Schutes noted. “By structuring this transaction in coordination with Callan, we were able to complete the acquisition of Evaluation Associates’ client base in a way that was advantageous to both firms, and to ensure that all Evaluation Associates clients benefit from a seamless transition.”
*Source: Greenwich Associates
About Mercer
Mercer is a global leader in human resource consulting, outsourcing and investment services. Mercer works with clients to solve their most complex benefit and human capital issues by designing, implementing and administering health, retirement and other benefit programs. Mercer’s investment services include investment consulting, implemented consulting and multi-manager investment management. Mercer’s 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York and Chicago stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.mercer.com.