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Mercer Investment Consulting Inc.'s May 26 announcement that it will acquire the bulk of rival Evaluation Associates Inc.'s business from Milliman Inc. puts the firm at the forefront of what Mercer executives say could be a wave of industry consolidation over the coming years.
While Mercer was the main mover behind the deal -- the company's second this year after buying St. Louis-based Hammond Associates in January -- for this latest acquisition it worked in tandem with San Francisco-based Callan Associates. Callan will acquire the 10 public defined benefit clients among the 115 institutional investors Evaluation Associates serves.
Executives at Mercer and Callan couldn't immediately specify how much of Evaluation Associates' roughly $200 billion in assets under advisement come from those 10 public funds.
Mercer announced in October it would exit the U.S. public fund arena, resigning accounts with a combined $240 billion in assets under advisement, following lawsuits filed against the firm's actuarial consulting affiliate by public fund clients.
In an interview, Jeffrey Schutes, Mercer's U.S. investment consulting leader, said acquiring the Evaluation Associates business will help extend the major beachhead Mercer obtained in the endowment, foundation and wealth management segments of the market with its Hammond acquisition, advancing his firm's goal...