Mercer Global Advisors, a national Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), has acquired A Farah Investments, dba AFI Wealth Strategies (AFI), a wealth management firm located in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
AFI serves approximately 220 clients with assets under management (AUM) of approximately USD240 million. AFI was founded by Andrew E Farah CIMA and offers boutique wealth strategy services, managing and planning the financial futures of many high-net-worth individuals, families, and their businesses. The AFI team will be joining Mercer Advisors.
Farah is a graduate of the College of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, with a bachelor’s degree in Business Finance. He is also a graduate of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Certified Investment Management Analyst program. Farah is also a Green Bay Packers Board of Director member since 2001.
Farah says: “I built a successful and growing practice but had reached the limits of my capacity. To continue to add clients and grow I had to reinvent my business. To use industry language, I had to build it or join it. Talking to a colleague who had recently faced a similar fork in the road, he mentioned he joined Mercer Advisors and I should talk to Dave Barton, former Mercer Advisors’ CEO who now focuses on doing M&A for the company. Dave and I talked about business succession strategies and the prospect of merging with Mercer Advisors. Partnering with Mercer Advisors had appeal for me because they take over the onerous back-office and human resources responsibilities, and offer in-house family office services like estate planning, tax, etc., that my clients can utilise. For me it was a win, and for my clients it was a win, a true ‘win-win’.”
David Barton, Vice Chairman, who led this transaction on behalf of Mercer Advisors, adds: “Andy built a successful practice but was maxed out from a capacity standpoint. For Andy, he was faced with the proposition of growing and investing in his business, or, alternatively, join one that had already built a fully institutionalised successful business his clients would appreciate. Key to that decision was Andy realising merging his business was not the end of his career, quite the opposite. Together we hand-crafted Andy’s ongoing role as a member of the Mercer Advisors team where he continues to lead the Green Bay office and service his clients but with an army of support standing shoulder to shoulder with him to foster growth while enhancing the value proposition for his clients. Joining Mercer Advisors was not the end of AFI, just AFI 2.0 under the Mercer Advisors’ banner. We are thrilled to have Andy and his team join Mercer Advisors.”
Dave Welling, Chief Executive Officer of Mercer Advisors, says: “Andy has assembled a strong team and is highly respected in the industry. His involvement and contributions to his community and local philanthropic organisations demonstrates his strong character. This is the type of talent we seek to add to our team. We are excited to partner with the AFI team and look forward to serving their clients with expanded wealth management services for years to come.”
