Mercer Advisors Private Asset Management

Mercer Advisors Private Asset Management

Mercer Advisors began in 1985 as a small financial planning practice in Santa Barbara, founded by a core team that sought to integrate tax, estate, and investment counsel. David Barton, who joined in the 1990s, was instrumental in scaling the firm through a disciplined acquisition strategy, buying and integrating regional wealth management and CPA firms. The firm's growth accelerated under private equity sponsorship, first from Genstar Capital and later Oak Hill Capital, which acquired a majority position in 2019 (per PE Hub, 2019). Today the firm operates from a headquarters in Santa Barbara with major hubs in Denver, San Francisco, and New York. Mercer Advisors deploys client capital across three primary asset classes: private equity, private credit, and real estate. The firm structures exposure through fund commitments, direct co-investments, and curated alternative investment vehicles designed for its high-net-worth client base. In private real estate, the firm has facilitated access to institutional-quality commercial properties and multifamily developments. The private debt book includes allocations to direct lending strategies and specialty finance. Mercer's investment committee sources opportunities through its network of institutional managers and intermediary platforms, serving a national client base concentrated in major metropolitan markets across the West Coast, Northeast, and Mountain West regions. The firm's total deployment and team size are not publicly disclosed. Mercer Advisors operates as a registered investment adviser with multiple office locations and a centralized investment office. The firm maintains a philanthropic advisory unit to coordinate donor-advised funds and charitable planning for clients. In January 2024, Oak Hill Capital announced it would explore strategic options for its stake, including a potential sale or recapitalization of the business (per Bloomberg, January 2024). Mercer's structural differentiator lies in its tax-first architecture. The firm was built by embedding CPA practices inside its wealth management framework, a deliberate integration that allows it to coordinate investment decisions with estate plans, trust structures, and multi-generational tax outcomes. This positions the firm not as a pure allocator but as a governance and tax orchestrator that layers private investments on top of a planning core — a model distinct from the traditional single-family office or the capital-introduction platform.