At a glance
- The platform is built for equity compensation and complex tax situations.
- The acquisition gives Mercer advisors a platform for stock-option exercises, tender offers, liquidity events and multi-entity filings, plus a model that pairs year-round planning with annual preparation.
- Fifteenth serves more than 1,000 professionals, concentrated among employees of technology companies navigating equity-driven wealth events.
Mercer Advisors acquired Fifteenth, an AI-native tax and accounting firm, InvestmentNews reported. The platform is built for equity compensation and complex tax situations. The deal, announced Nov. 5, 2026, brings a CPA team and technology builders into the Denver RIA, which oversees $114 billion in client assets.
The acquisition gives Mercer advisors a platform for stock-option exercises, tender offers, liquidity events and multi-entity filings, plus a model that pairs year-round planning with annual preparation. Mercer says more than half of the ultra-high-net-worth clients who join the firm actively seek tax capabilities. Tax professionals are about one in 10 of Mercer's roughly 1,880 employees, a ratio the firm expects to reach one in eight by the end of 2026.
Fifteenth serves more than 1,000 professionals, concentrated among employees of technology companies navigating equity-driven wealth events. Co-founders Ankur Dahiya and Laura Moreno will join Mercer.
Reported by the Practice management desk from InvestmentNews, Financial Advisor Magazine and Wealth Solutions Report. Published . Updated Nov 6, 2026 · 12:18 p.m. ET. Corrections