Mariner Wealth Advisors adds $104B AUA with double acquisition

Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner

The firm is creating a new institutional business unit.

Mariner Wealth Advisors will see its assets under advisement surge by $104 billion on completion of a double acquisition.

The national wealth advisory firm is to acquire AndCo Consulting and Fourth Street Performance Partners, which will create substantial growth in its institutional vertical. The firm will leverage the AndCo team’s quarter of a century of experience in advising on both defined-contribution and defined-benefit plans to create Mariner Institutional.

The acquisitions will add 100 professionals to Mariner’s head count across the two firms, as well as offices in Covington, Kentucky, Winter Park, Florida, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Reno, Nevada. It will also give a boost to Mariner’s services for individual investors.

“The complementary nature of our clients and services will support our joint growth and offer existing clients and prospects additional services that will help enhance the overall client outcome,” Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors, said in a statement. “Mariner, AndCo and Fourth Street share an objective and client-first approach, a focus on associate development and unyielding support for our communities. This leads to a strong cultural alignment and great opportunities ahead.”

Mariner has made several acquisitions in the past year, including a $1.8 billion AUM firm that expanded the firm’s capabilities in outsource investment management for financial advisors.

While AndCo and Fourth Street will merge upon completion of the transactions, expected to occur in early April, the two firms will maintain their existing teams and benefit from the enhanced infrastructure and financial resources of Mariner.

“Since the inception of the firm, we have consistently approached business decisions through a simple three-pronged question: how will this impact our clients, our colleagues and our community?” said AndCo CEO Mike Welker. “We truly believe we have found a partner in Mariner that shares the same philosophy, and I’m confident this opportunity will enhance the services we deliver to our existing clients, provide opportunities for our team members and give us capacity to give back to our local communities at scale.”