| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Key People: | Martine Ferland (President and CEO) |
| Industry: | Consulting |
| Founded: | 1945 |
| Products: | Asset management, including retirement, health & benefits, human capital, surveys & products, communication, investments, outsourcing, and mergers & acquisitions |
| Parent: | Marsh McLennan |
| Hq Location City: | New York City |
| Locations: | 180 cities in 43 countries |
Mercer is an American consulting firm founded in 1945. It is one of the four operating subsidiaries of global professional services firm Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC). Mercer is headquartered in New York City with offices in 43 countries and operations in 130 countries.[1] The company primarily provides human resources and financial services consulting services to its clients.
Mercer has several distinct lines of business, namely: health and benefits, investments and retirement, workforce and careers, and M&A advisory services. It is the world's largest investment advisory with over US$300 billion outsourced assets under management and US$16 trillion under advisement in total.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
William Manson Mercer founded William M. Mercer, Limited in Vancouver, Canada in 1945. It was acquired by Marsh McLennan and merged into their employee benefits department in 1959.[7] [8]
Mercer Consulting Group
In 1975, Marsh McLennan converted their benefits operations into a wholly owned subsidiary, William M. Mercer, Inc. In 1992, a holding company was created for Marsh McLennan's three global consulting businesses, known as Mercer Consulting Group.[9] William M. Mercer, Inc. continued to provide actuarial and employee benefits consulting within the group alongside two sister companies: Mercer Management Consulting and National Economic Research Associates, Inc, which provided corporate strategy consulting and economic consulting, respectively.[10]
In 2000, Mercer Consulting Group acquired Delta Consulting Group for its organizational development and change management expertise.[11] Founded by organizational theorist David A. Nadler in 1980, Delta Consulting Group worked to structure effective executive teams.[12] [13] The firm had an influential client list, including corporations such as 3M, Citicorp, Procter & Gamble, The New York Times, and Xerox.[14] [15]
The new entity was renamed Mercer Delta Consulting, and maintained its specialty in leadership and organizational change.[16] [17] The group grew through further acquisitions of Canadian Johnston Smith International, French Change Management Consultants, Spanish c.r.m. Concord, and American CDR International.[18] They surveyed directors of the Fortune 1000 annually and monitored developments in business governance.[19] In contrast to the traditional organizational structure where business units within an organization are clearly defined, Mercer Delta was a proponent of strategically aligned business units that were linked to a larger organization with which they could share capabilities when needed, and operate separately from when they were not.[20]
In 2002, William M. Mercer Inc. changed its name to Mercer Human Resource Consulting.[21]
In 2004, Marsh McLennan folded its troubled Putnam Investments defined contribution business into its Mercer line and acquired Houston, Texas-based Synhrgy HR Technologies, a human resources technology and outsourcing services company.[1] Also in 2004, Mercer admitted giving the NYSE board a compensation report that contained "omissions and inaccuracies" that led to a $139.5 million pay package for former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso. Mercer had been brought in to advise the stock exchange on Grasso's 2003 contract and his request for $139.5 million. The consultancy returned $440,000 in fees it collected from the NYSE and provided key documents in the lawsuit.[22]
In 2005, Marsh McLennan split Mercer Human Resources Consulting from Mercer Consulting Group. The five consultancies which remained in the group were renamed Mercer Specialty Consulting.[23]
In 2007, three of the five speciality consulting units – Mercer Delta Consulting, Mercer Oliver Wyman and Mercer Management Consulting – were merged into management consultancy Oliver Wyman.[24] Oliver Wyman, along with the two remaining speciality units (NERA Economic Consulting and Lippincott) became a separate subsidiary of Marsh McLennan known collectively as Oliver Wyman Group.[25]
In September, the Mercer Human Resource Consulting became simply "Mercer".[26] In December, Mercer acquired Höfer Vorsorge-Management, a German actuarial and retirement consulting firm. At the time, the acquisition reportedly gave Mercer the top market position in Germany.[27]
In 2008, Mercer's Italian human capital consulting business merged with Tesi, an Italian competitor. The combined business, Mercer Tesi was noted at the time to be the largest HR consultancy in Italy.[28]
In 2010, Mercer acquired ORC Worldwide, an expert in international work assignments.[29] Also in 2010, Mercer acquired Brecksville, Ohio-based Innovative Process Administration LLC (IPA), a health benefits and technology provider.
In 2011, Mercer acquired Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Mahoney & Associates, a defined contribution plan provider.[30] Also in 2011, Mercer acquired Alicia Smith & Associates, a Washington DC-based Medicaid policy consulting firm.[31]
In 2013, Mercer acquired British Columbia-based Hall Consulting Limited (HCL), an HR consultant and salary surveyor focusing on the mining and energy business.[32] Also in 2013, Mercer acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers' pension windup (termination) administration business in Canada,[33] and Global Remuneration Solutions (GRS), a South African compensation and benefits survey data and rewards information provider.[34]
In 2014, Mercer acquired Norwell, Massachusetts-based Transition Assist, a private health care exchange specializing in coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees.[35] Also in 2014, Mercer acquired Jeitosa Group International, a business and technology consultancy,[36] and a 34% stake in South Africa-based employee benefits specialist Alexander Forbes.[37] Later that year, Mercer acquired Swiss private markets manager and consultant SCM,[38] and Denarius, a Santiago, Chile-based consulting firm focused on compensation and benefits survey and information products.[39]
In 2015, Mercer made two acquisitions. It acquired Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based Comptryx, a workforce metrics company offering surveying, modeling and analytics services,[40] and also acquired HRBS, a provider of career and talent consulting and information services to clients across Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China.[41] In that same year, Mercer sold its US defined contribution administration business to Transamerica.[42]
In 2016, Mercer acquired Pillar Administration, Australia from the New South Wales State Government. Pillar was Australia's fourth largest superannuation administration provider, with more than $100 billion in funds under administration across 1.1 million member accounts.[43]
In 2017, Mercer combined its investment and retirement consulting practices into a new Wealth consulting division.[44] In December 2019, Mercer's investment assets under management reached above $300 billion.[45]
After Marsh McLennan's 2018 purchase of London-based Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT), operating in employee benefits and other financial services, the JLT business was integrated into Mercer.[46] [47]