Mercer Global Advisors has acquired Pinnacle Wealth Solutions (Pinnacle), a wealth management firm located in Midlothian, Virginia.
Pinnacle serves approximately 250 clients with assets under management (AUM) of approximately USD365 million. Pinnacle was founded in 1985 by G Carl Mahler, Jr, CFP to focus on delivering comprehensive wealth management services to high net worth (HNW) clients. Pinnacle has two shareholders – Mahler and Jill A Jeter. In all, five Pinnacle team members will be joining the Mercer Advisors’ team.
Pinnacle Wealth Solutions (previously The Pinnacle Group) has been committed to one mission: empowering their clients and families to live every day to the fullest while helping them to achieve their dreams of tomorrow. Whether advising on everyday spending, retirement planning, investments, insurance, college savings or any other financial need, their passion is to provide the exemplary care to achieve financial freedom.
Mahler says: “I’ve very much enjoyed building our business with my partner Jill. Our dedicated team of professionals serves our clients at the highest level and I am very proud of that. In reviewing our succession plan and evolving wealth management industry it became clear to us that we needed to partner with a strong national firm that would not only assist with the provisioning of middle and back office responsibilities, but also help us grow while sharing our commitment of putting our clients’ needs first. I was referred by a colleague to David Barton, Vice Chairman at Mercer Advisors who leads their mergers and acquisitions activities. Dave explained what our transition options were, what those paths looked like, and how we could work together to implement a successful outcome. I was impressed with the depth and breadth of Mercer Advisors’ offerings and how we could leverage their scale and national platform business. Mercer Advisors is a great fit for us and our clients, we couldn’t be more excited.”
Co-shareholder Jeter adds: “I’ve worked closely with Dave Barton and the Mercer Advisors’ team over the last six months. We’ve successfully solved complex transition issues as we manoeuvred system and platform matters inside Raymond James, our committed partner and custodian, in completing our integration with Mercer Advisors on Raymond James’ Independent Advisor Division. Our combination is not only great for our clients, but also for our staff by providing them new career development opportunities.”
David Barton who led this transaction on behalf of Mercer Advisors adds: “Carl and Jill have built a great business and successfully operated on Raymond James Independent Contractor Division offering the full range of wealth management services including brokerage and insurance business. This is the fourth hybrid business we have acquired, and these transactions add complexity beyond those normally associated with a pure RIA. Not wishing to disturb their client relationships and seeking to maintain their service lines, we created a transition plan to accommodate all these different needs. We worked very closely with Carl, Jill, and the Raymond James transition team to navigate the complex operational activities necessary to migrate Pinnacle’s business to our RIA platform without interrupting their business or customer relationships. It was a great team effort, and we are thrilled to be working with Carl, Jill and Pinnacle’s staff.”
Dave Welling, Chief Executive Officer of Mercer Advisors, says: “Carl and Jill are well respected and known in Virginia. We share their commitment to serving clients at the highest level and our cultural alignment was apparent. Pinnacle adds to our existing presence in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region which is one of our fastest growing markets, and we look forward to serving their clientele for years to come with our enhanced family office business services.”
