Mesirow to Purchase LeafHouse Financial Advisors, Expands Fiduciary Unit

Mesirow, an employee-owned financial services firm, will be acquiring LeafHouse Financial Advisors, a division of LeafHouse Financial Group, which will be merged into Mesirow’s fiduciary business. 

As part of the transaction, Mesirow will also make an undisclosed investment in LeafHouse Financial to support the firm’s build-out of its technology platform.  

Additionally, LeafHouse’s advisory business will operate as part of Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions, and the acquisition will broaden Mesirow’s fiduciary solutions capabilities with LeafHouse’s retirement plan services. 

The transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, adds about $23 billion in retirement assets to Mesirow, the firm said. 

Overall, the acquistion will boost Mesirow’s total assets under management to $138 billion following the close of the LeafHouse transaction. 

“Advisors and plan sponsors will benefit from enhanced service flexibility, improved data integration over time, and the resources of a firm that has been committed to fiduciary responsibility for decades,” Michael Annin, president of Mesirow Fiduciary Solutions, said. 

As part of the acquisition, the FlexFiduciary and InvestBuild models, which are offered by LeafHouse will continue to provide its services to clients and advisors. 

Chicago-based Mesirow’s fiduciary solutions unit oversees $115.2 billion in assets under management and advisement as of March 31, for about 10,000 financial advisors.