Another megamerger deal has arrived as the institutional investment advisory industry consolidates and migrates towards retail capital.
Marsh announced it is acquiring Wilshire for its wealth advisory business, investment research, and alternative investment capabilities. The deal also gives the growing financial services giant a larger institutional investor client base, including retirement plans, and endowments and foundations. Wilshire advises on over $1.6 trillion in assets and manages $221 billion in assets as of June.
Marsh’s president and CEO John Doyle said in a news release that the acquisition is important for growing the investments business and strengthening the firm’s connection to the financial advisor space. “By combining Wilshire’s capabilities with our global reach, open architecture, and expertise across public and private markets, we can help clients make better decisions and build resilient portfolios,” Doyle added.
Pat Tomlinson, president and CEO of Marsh People and Investments, added that this purchase will expand Marsh’s scale and capabilities, particularly in alternatives, model portfolios, and data and analytics. Founded in 1972 as an index and risk analytics provider, the private equity-owned Wilshire is an investment services firm that offers multi-asset advice and solutions, alternative investment capabilities, and indexes with proprietary data, technology, and analytics.
This deal comes as many large institutional advisory firms are consolidating and migrating towards the retail and high-net-worth space, including Creative Planning acquiring the $4.3 trillion institutional consultancy RVK in September, Cerity Partners buying $1.2 trillion Verus Investments, and Hightower taking a majority stake in NEPC.
Marsh has also been on an acquisition spree of late. In addition to agreeing to buy Wilshire to expand into advisor-led wealth, the firm recently completed its purchase of private markets manager AltamarCAM and acquired regional benefits and wealth advisory firm TriBridge Partners through its agency arm.
Marsh — back when it was called Mercer — exited the U.S. public defined benefit plan consulting business in October 2010 after agreeing to pay Alaska $500 million to settle a lawsuit over the state's unfunded employee pension plans earlier that year. When Mercer acquired Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services in 2024, the firm did not retain Vanguard's public pension clients as part of the deal.
However, Michael Dempsey, president of Marsh’s wealth business, told Institutional Investor that the firm has worked with many U.S. public pensions “for many, many years,” across solutions, building asset allocation strategies, and providing operational due diligence.
“Since 2010, we have continued to build our investment consulting and implementation service offerings for U.S. public pensions,” Dempsey said over video. “The additional capabilities that Jason and the team at Wilshire are a great complement to our services.”
After being acquired by CC Capital and Motive Partners in January 2021, Wilshire rebranded, restructured, and expanded under new leadership. Over the course of 2022, the firm integrated previously separate business lines, launched new indices (now spinning off as a separate entity), and modernized its technology. Last year, Wilshire promoted its president and deputy CEO Jason Schwarz to CEO, who said he planned guide the executive team on growth initiatives — including options for M&A.
Jim Dunn, CEO at Verger Capital Management and former Wilshire CIO, understands why deals like this make sense for the firms involved, but “less convinced they necessarily make sense for the end beneficiaries.”
"Private equity has brought capital and energy into the institutional advisory business, but it has also put a clock on ownership,” Dunn told II. “Eventually there needs to be an exit, and increasingly that exit seems to favor larger platforms with much bigger ambitions in wealth and retail.”
