Focus Financial Partners LLC, has acquired fee-only wealth management firm Merriman LLC and its $1.5 billion in client assets.

The purchase brings New York-based Focus Financial Partners' total assets under management to just under $60 billion. Focus Financial is an international partnership of independent wealth management firms, with more than 800 employees, including about 100 partners.

Company officials declined to provide specific financial details on the deal, which closed Dec. 31.

Founded by Paul Merriman in 1983, Seattle-based Merriman specializes in  investment management and financial planning, including retirement and  insurance. It services over 2,000 clients, with the majority located in the Pacific Northwest. Merriman has 36 employees, nine of whom are financial advisors. The partnership will allow Merriman’s advisors to take a larger stake in the company, Merriman officials said.

Paul Merriman, who retired from Merriman in October 2011, will not have an ownership stake in Merriman, according to Focus Financial. His son, Jeff Merriman-Cohen, will remain a company principal and have a seat on the board, Merriman CEO Colleen Lindstrom said.

"We are excited to have Merriman join our partnership as it marks our entry into the Seattle market and expands our West Coast presence,” Rudy Adolf, founder and CEO of Focus, said in a statement.  “Focus had a terrific 2012 from a combination of new firms, sub-acquisitions and talented recruits joining our firms, in addition to growth from existing firms. We expect favorable trends to support continued growth in 2013.”

Lindstrom, who will remain Merriman's CEO, said Merriman will operate independently from Focus. “Under the Focus model, they leave their partners independent,” Lindstrom said. “What they’re doing is  taking independent, entrepreneurial firms and not turning them into employees.”

Merriman also has the financial wherewithal to possibly acquire other advisory firms down the road, Lindstrom said. “We’ve got the professional management that you’d need to do that sort of project,” she said.