In November 2021, the voracious RIA consolidator Mercer Global Advisors boasted that it had bought fast-growing Atlanta firm ACG Wealth with $1.3 billion in AUM. The deal was led by Mercer’s high-profile dealmaker, Dave Barton, and brought aboard two ACG founders and 17 employees. The 19-year-old ACG’s creators said they needed the architecture and back-office support that Mercer was famous for bestowing on the firms in its stable. Two years later the deal seems to have gone sour. Mercer has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Colorado against ACG and its founders in a contract dispute.