Post acquisition growth (1959–2002)
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. [8] 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. [9]
Mercer Delta Consulting
In 2000, Mercer Consulting Group acquired Delta Consulting Group for its organizational development and change management expertise. [10] Founded by organizational theorist David A. Nadler in 1980, Delta Consulting Group worked to structure effective executive teams. [11] [12] The firm had an influential client list, including corporations such as 3M, Citicorp, Procter & Gamble, The New York Times , and Xerox. [13] [14]
The new entity was renamed Mercer Delta Consulting, and maintained its specialty in leadership and organizational change. [15] [16] The group grew through further acquisitions of Canadian Johnston Smith International, French Change Management Consultants, Spanish c.r.m. Concord, and American CDR International. [17] They surveyed directors of the Fortune 1000 annually and monitored developments in business governance. [18] 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. [19]
Mercer (2007–present)
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. [23] 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. [24]
In September, the Mercer Human Resource Consulting became simply "Mercer". [25] 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. [26]
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. [27]
In 2010, Mercer acquired ORC Worldwide, an expert in international work assignments. [28] 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. [29] Also in 2011, Mercer acquired Alicia Smith & Associates, a Washington DC-based Medicaid policy consulting firm. [30]
In 2013, Mercer acquired British Columbia-based Hall Consulting Limited (HCL), an HR consultant and salary surveyor focusing on the mining and energy business. [31] Also in 2013, Mercer acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers' pension windup (termination) administration business in Canada, [32] and Global Remuneration Solutions (GRS), a South African compensation and benefits survey data and rewards information provider. [33]
In 2014, Mercer acquired Norwell, Massachusetts-based Transition Assist, a private health care exchange specializing in coverage for Medicare-eligible retirees. [34] Also in 2014, Mercer acquired Jeitosa Group International, a business and technology consultancy, [35] and a 34% stake in South Africa-based employee benefits specialist Alexander Forbes. [36] Later that year, Mercer acquired Swiss private markets manager and consultant SCM, [37] and Denarius, a Santiago, Chile-based consulting firm focused on compensation and benefits survey and information products. [38]
In 2015, Mercer made two acquisitions. It acquired Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based Comptryx, a workforce metrics company offering surveying, modeling and analytics services, [39] 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. [40] In that same year, Mercer sold its US defined contribution administration business to Transamerica. [41]
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. [42]
In 2017, Mercer combined its investment and retirement consulting practices into a new Wealth consulting division. [43] In December 2019, Mercer's investment assets under management reached above $300 billion. [44]
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. [45] [46]
