A national registered financial advisory firm on an acquisition spree has snapped up Thousand Oaks-based Eagleson Arndt Financial Advisors.

In the last year, Mercer Advisors brought 18 firms under its wing, including two in the Los Angeles area, where it manages $3.2 billion in client assets of its $98 billion total.

Eagleson Arndt, composed of veteran adviser Vicki Arndt and client manager Kathryn Freid overseeing $100 million in assets, is the Denver-based RIA’s latest add-on.

Arndt is a “powerhouse,” said Martine Lellis, executive managing partner for M&A partner development at Mercer.

“She’s an amazing adviser … serving as a fiduciary, putting her clients first and leading with planning,” Lellis said. “(She is) a very natural fit for continuing to build out that team.”

Mercer positions itself as an integrator as opposed to an aggregator, despite its aggressive inorganic growth strategy, encouraging partner firms to operate independently with added scale and support, Lellis said.

“We don’t want to diminish what (Arndt) was capable of doing on her own,” she said. “It’s just going to help her create a more integrated process of delivery for wide-ranging advice that will incorporate areas like tax and estate planning and investments in other areas that her clients may need.”

‘Opportunity’ in L.A. markets

In a competitive, consolidating wealth management sector, smaller firms balance compliance, technological advancements and a patchwork of external solutions providers. Lellis said many firms that approach Mercer want to lift their operational burden.

“We have a lot of sellers who come to us because they are just in a state of wearing a lot of hats,” she said. “It’s taking them away from doing what a lot of them decided was going to be their life’s work.”

The deal builds on Mercer’s growing presence in and around L.A., where it runs six offices – including in Woodland Hills, Encino and Century City – staffed by 16 advisers and their teams. In October, the firm acquired Encino-based wealth management, tax and business advisory firm Singer Burke and its $1.2 billion in managed assets.

“Southern California is very attractive,” Lellis said. “There’s opportunity in the L.A. and Orange County markets, so we want to continue to try to activate those and bring our services to those clientele.”