Houlihan Lokey Advises Verus Investments

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Verus Investments, Inc. (Verus), a leading institutional investment consulting and advisory firm that provides services to clients with approximately $1.2 trillion in assets, has agreed to partner with Cerity Partners LLC, one of the nation’s largest independent wealth management firms. The transaction is expected to close at the end of the first quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Verus provides institutional consulting and OCIO services to a broad array of public, nonprofit, multi-employer, and corporate clients overseeing approximately $1.2 trillion in assets. The addition of Verus will expand Cerity Partners’ investment capabilities, enabling it to serve a broader range of institutions. Verus was ranked the eighth-largest institutional consulting firm in the U.S. in Pension & Investments’ 2024 survey.

Headquartered in New York, NY, and founded in 2009, Cerity Partners is a nationally recognized financial and wealth advisory firm serving high-net-worth individuals and their families, businesses and their leadership teams, and institutions. The combination expands Cerity Partners’ client assets ninefold, bringing total assets to approximately $1.3 trillion.

“We are thrilled to welcome our new colleagues from Verus, which brings decades of experience and incredible expertise in helping institutions achieve their financial goals,” said Kurt Miscinski, CEO of Cerity Partners. “This partnership meaningfully expands our leadership in the institutional space and strengthens our ability to serve clients of all sizes, complexities, and delegation preferences.”

“Cerity Partners is a firm that shares our values: independence, trust, expertise, and diligence,” said Jeffrey MacLean, CEO of Verus. “By combining our institutional expertise with Cerity Partners’ scale and resources, our clients will continue to receive the personalized, fiduciary-driven guidance they rely upon, from the same professionals they have trusted for years, now supported by an even broader set of capabilities and expertise.”

Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Verus.

In addition to adding leading institutional investment consulting capabilities, the partnership with Verus materially expands Cerity Partners’ OCIO capabilities and builds on its 2024 acquisition of Agility, which marked the firm’s initial entry into the OCIO space. Houlihan Lokey continues to advise leading OCIO platforms, having also served as the exclusive financial advisor to Agility.

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