Mercer Advisors, a wealth management and financial planning business with $60 billion in client assets, is expanding its private markets reach with the launch of the Aspen Partners platform.
Aspen Partners is a proprietary private markets platform built by Mercer Advisors for the purpose of providing institutional-level access on institutional-level terms to qualified individual investors. The platform will feature investments curated by Mercer and is open to qualified buyers with minimum investments of $100,000.
“We are committed to delivering on the promise of a complete family office. This means working directly with some of the world's leading managers of private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate and infrastructure to build institutional-grade portfolios for our clients – without adding excessive fees or expense ratios,” said Mercer Advisors president Daniel Gourvitch. a statement. “For years, the world's leading institutional investors have benefited from including well-diversified private equity investments in their portfolios. All too often, individuals who are offered 'unique access' to private investments end up paying high fees, investing too narrowly and missing out on many of the best opportunities in the private markets.
“Aspen Partners was built to bring a fiduciary-focused approach to the private markets by providing investors with access to selectively selected private managers,” Mercer's chief investment officer Donald Calcagni said in a statement. “Just as we have used our institutional buying power in the public markets to minimize expense ratios for clients, we have now focused our buying power in the private markets to make it easier for our qualified clients to invest alongside investors. private principals.”
Mercer plans to launch several private funds diversified across multiple managers and vintages. The funds are designed to maximize the proportion of fund fees allocated to compensating high-performing managers, while minimizing fees paid to intermediaries, such as fund administrators, platform sponsors, funds of fund managers or placement agents .
“Our differentiated pricing model stands in stark contrast to the industry's prevailing pricing model, where high fees can significantly erode investor returns,” said Calcagni. “This practice does not make sense and does not serve investors. We are excited to have created a new paradigm where costs go towards strengthening expected net customer returns, but also decrease as a percentage of assets as the platform grows.”
Mercer Advisors built Aspen Partners in partnership with the private fintech marketplace Opto Investments.
Mercer Advisors and Opto Investments are both independently backed by GIC, a global institutional investor.
Mercer Advisors has also expanded its private equity leadership team. Bob Burlinson will take on an expanded role as senior director, private markets. Burlinson will lead the private markets team and its managers in sourcing, due diligence and monitoring efforts.
Also joining the investment team is Will Rockett, senior director, investment strategy group. Rockett, whose 25 years of asset management experience includes roles with Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, Nuveen, US Trust and Barclays Capital, now leads Mercer's team of investment strategists charged with helping advisors build, execute and monitor private market allocations to clients. Burlinson and Rockett will join the investment management team under Calcagni.
Chris Casdia also joins Mercer as vice president, private markets compliance and operations. He brings over 15 years of experience in financial services from Homrich Berg, Gratus Capital and AXA Equitable.