Marsh Buys Wilshire

Marsh, the investment business formerly known by its separate business units including Mercer, Marsh McLennan, Oliver Wyman and others, announced Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire investment consulting firm Wilshire.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approvals. The acquisition will expand Marsh’s investment business into the adviser-led wealth business, while also strengthening its offerings to institutional investors, according to a statement from Marsh.

“The acquisition of Wilshire is an important step in growing Marsh’s investments business and strengthening our connection to the financial adviser ecosystem. By combining Wilshire’s capabilities with our global reach, open architecture, and expertise across public and private markets, we can help clients make better decisions and build resilient portfolios in an increasingly complex investment environment,” said John Doyle, president and CEO of Marsh, in a statement.

Wilshire’s capabilities span analytics, asset management, consulting, outsourced CIO and indexes, manages $221 billion in assets, and advises on $1.6 trillion in assets. Some of the firm’s largest clients include the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority.

“Wilshire has spent more than five decades building innovative, institutional-quality investment capabilities and delivering them to clients across institutional, wealth, and retirement markets,” said Jason Scharwz, Wilshire’s CEO, in a statement. “Now is the time to join with Marsh, and through its global reach and resources, extend our platform, broaden our capabilities, and serve clients across the investment value chain.”

Wilshire’s team in offices in the United States, Europe and Asia will join Marsh upon completion of the transaction.

The acquisition is the latest sign that investment consulting is consolidating around firms that can combine consulting, OCIO, retirement services, private-market expertise and wealth-management capabilities under one roof.

Registered investment advisers are also looking to institutional consultants for growth. Notably, wealth management firm Creative Planning announced in September that it had entered into an agreement to acquire investment consultant RVK Inc. as a bid to enter the institutional advisory space.

“Very big news! Not unexpected, as the investment consulting industry has been in consolidation, says Mike Scotto, managing partner at Highlight Advisors. “Increasingly, the investment consulting businesses are platforms for OCIO funds, so large acquisitions can be an efficient way to achieve asset management growth. We likely have not seen the end of these types of mergers as the larger players tend to match each other, stroke for stroke.”

Brad Alford, founder of Alpha Capital Management, called the transaction significant because it “brings together two highly respected firms in institutional investment consulting and OCIO. It also highlights the different preferences among institutional investors. Some value the resources and breadth of capabilities that come with scale, while others prefer the more personalized relationships and specialized attention of boutique firms.”

Earlier this year, Wilshire Associates Inc., which operated Wilshire Indexes, began selling off key parts of the indexes benchmark business. VettaFi LLC, a subsidiary of the TMX Group, acquired Wilshire’s Global Listed Infrastructure Organization family of indexes.

Wilshire Advisors LLC, a separate Wilshire company, purchased select assets from Wilshire Indexes, including flagship offerings such as the Wilshire 5000 Index Series, Wilshire Global Minimum Variance Index Series, Wilshire Style Index Series, Wilshire Real Estate Index Series and Wilshire Liquid Alternatives Index Series, a company spokesperson confirmed.

Separately, ISS STOXX, which owns PLANADVISER, acquired from Wilshire Indexes the W+ platform, a tool enabling institutional investors, asset managers and financial intermediaries to design and tailor custom indexes.