Mercer Global Advisors today announced the acquisition of Benchmark Wealth Management LLC, a financial planning and wealth management firm in Old Lyme, Conn., that serves more than 300 clients and has $412 million in assets under advisement.
Benchmark was created by Richard Stout III and Thomas Britt, who merged their separate practices in 2007 while working at Wells Fargo. They were with Wells Fargo from 2007 to 2016, according to BrokerCheck. Both men entered the financial service industry in 2000.
“We have spent nearly two decades building a client experience that is focused on building depth and trust in our client relationships. Financial planning, which is at the core of how we operate, is foundational to how we deliver on the white-glove experience that we promise,” Stout said in a statement. “Once we got to know the team at Mercer Advisors, we became confident that our clients would continue to receive top-notch care and that we would have opportunities to further deepen these relationships by adding services such as estate planning, tax guidance, and more."
David Barton, vice chairman, who heads mergers and acquisitions at Mercer Advisors, said Stout and Britt “are highly experienced planners with sophistication in managing larger clients.” He added that the team brings additional expertise in serving high-net-worth clients.
“With both firms anchoring on financial planning and client experience, it was easy to see that the Benchmark team would fit right in and integrate smoothly,” added Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors.
Headquartered in Denver, Mercer Advisors , a parent company of Mercer Global Advisors, is majority owned by both Oak Hill Capital and Genstar Capital. The firm, established in 1985, has more than $63 billion in client assets, along with more than 1,150 employees in more than 90 offices across the country.