Mercer acquires UK executive remuneration specialists, Kepler Associates

Mercer announced today that it has acquired Kepler Associates, the leading UK-based executive remuneration specialists. The acquisition strengthens Mercer’s UK capabilities in Executive Rewards, an area of growing importance in the global commercial marketplace.

Founded in 2000, Kepler is based in London and employs over 20 staff. It currently advises over 16% of FTSE350 Remuneration Committees, as well as a growing number of companies overseas. The company has a market-defining approach to the analysis and measurement of performance and pay, allied with strong capabilities in incentive design, target-setting, reward policy benchmarking and development, remuneration governance, shareholder engagement and consultation, and implementation support.

“Mercer helps clients develop the wealth, health and careers of their employees,” said Simon O’Regan, President of Mercer’s EuroPac region, “and expanding our executive rewards business in Europe is central to that mission. Mercer is prepared to invest in areas where we see an opportunity to anticipate client needs and in areas where we can strengthen our advisory capabilities. We are delighted to welcome the Kepler team to Mercer and look forward to working with them.”

“Our intention is to build Mercer’s executive rewards capabilities globally and this marks a great step forward in the growth of our Talent business,” said Ilya Bonic, President of Mercer’s Talent business, “In the UK, the majority of Kepler appointments are to board-level remuneration committees while Mercer’s strength is management and employee reward consulting and information services. This acquisition enables us to combine Kepler’s skills in Executive Reward with Mercer’s capabilities in the UK and globally. We will be providing an unrivalled service in an increasingly globalised pay environment.”

Gordon Clark, founder and Managing Partner of Kepler, commented, “We are delighted to be joining a global organisation like Mercer. While we, at Kepler, will bring proven experience in Executive Reward to Mercer’s suite of services, our clients, in turn, will benefit from Mercer’s global reward consulting capabilities, including international and below-board pay data, insights into HR best practices and access to the huge range of talent, benefits, health, pension and information services provided by Mercer. Kepler will now go to market as ‘Kepler, a brand of Mercer’ highlighting that for our clients and employees it is business as usual – our clients will continue to be supported by the same team providing the same quality service but with enhanced capabilities. For Kepler consultants, who are all transitioning to Mercer, it is an exciting development and we are happy and impatient to start working with our new colleagues. We share the same philosophy and business principles, and this will help ensure a seamless transition for our clients.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Kepler’s founder, Gordon Clark will become UK Head of Executive Reward and will be a Mercer Partner, as will co-founders Peter Smith and Jenny Martin. The Kepler team will join the UK Talent business, led by Mark Quinn.

“The combined businesses of Mercer and Kepler will be uniquely positioned to advise the management and remuneration committees of organisations across the UK and Europe”, said Fiona Dunsire, Mercer’s UK Market Leader and Chief Executive. “We are looking forward to having them on the team”.

Notes to Editors

About Kepler

Kepler Associates is a leading London-based advisor on executive remuneration, with expertise in providing objective, balanced counsel to remuneration committees and in developing short and long-term performance incentives that are closely aligned with, and support the achievement of, a client’s business goals. It has developed and refined a number of proprietary methods which give clients competitive advantage. Since inception in 2000, Kepler has supported over 500 listed and privately-held companies of all sizes, across all sectors, in the UK and increasingly around the world.

About Mercer

Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and performance of their most vital asset – their people. Mercer’s more than 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries and the firm operates in over 130 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), a global professional services firm offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and people. With 57,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue exceeding $13 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Oliver Wyman, a leader in management consulting. For more information, visit www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights. In the UK, Mercer Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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