Mercer Global Advisors Inc., a subsidiary of Denver-based Mercer Advisors Inc., has acquired Sage Future Financial LLC, a fee-only financial planning and wealth management RIA in Albuquerque, N.M., according to a news release.

Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sage currently manages approximately $100 million in client assets for about 45 high-net-worth households. Just as important, the firm allows Mercer entry into the key southwestern state of New Mexico, further strengthening its already strong presence in the Southwest, the company said. 

Mercer has three offices in Texas and another in Arizona. The addition of Sage increases the firm’s total number of offices nationwide to 44, while bringing its total assets under management to over $16.5 billion.

Dave Barton, vice chairman, mergers and acquisitions for Mercer, responded for comment through a spokesman.

Barton relinquished his position as CEO of Mercer Advisors in 2017 in order to focus on sourcing the firm’s acquisitions, which have fueled its growth since 2016.

According to Barton, Mercer started off slowly in 2016, making only three acquisitions that year, then increased the pace of its growth in 2017 to eight deals. Mercer made the same number of acquisitions in 2018, bringing on board an aggregate AUM of $2.8 billion for the year. This year, however, the company expects to double that number.  

Barton said that while Sage is the company’s sixth acquisition so far this year, Mercer has a letter of intent for four more deals to be announced at the end of September representing a total AUM of $2.3 billion. He also said that Mercer would be closing on several more deals by the end of the year, raising that amount to $4 billion.

Sage is Mercer’s 26^th acquisition since 2016. Despite Sage’s modest amount of AUM (when compared with other Mercer deals), its founder has years of experience growing a practice complementary to Mercer’s business model.

Donna Skeels Cygan, Sage’s founder and president, launched the firm in December 2009, two years after selling her first firm, Essential Financial Planning, which she launched a decade earlier. Sage provides investment management, retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, college funding strategies and legacy planning.

On the Sage website, Skeels Cygan said that she intentionally kept Sage small and personal, instead of growing it to be as large as Essential, which had five staff members when it was sold. Instead of a large staff, Skeels Cygan used a virtual office and limited the number of new clients to only four or five each year. All her clients are required to have a minimum of $1 million in investable assets, but most have between $1 million and $5 million.

She said in a news release that the Mercer family office business model, with in-house estate planning lawyers, tax return professionals and corporate trustee services, was a great value add and complemented her philosophy of holistic financial planning and wealth management.

“Dave Barton and I agree [that] high-net-worth clients want a one-stop shop, one-phone-call solution in a time-starved society,” she said.

Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors, said that Skeels Cygan was a great addition to the Mercer team.

“With the successful business she has built, we are now able to partner with her to grow our collective presence throughout New Mexico, a very desirable market,” he said in a news release.

Welling also said Sage would continue to make estate and tax planning guidance an integral component of financial planning.

“This was a great cultural fit with complementary and compatible business models,” he said.

Founded in 1985, Mercer Global Advisors is one of the largest RIA and financial planning firms in the U.S., with over $16.5 billion in client assets.