RIA valuations are not rising, even though competition for deals is strong and private equity money is plentiful. One factor against further price rises is buyer discipline among the large consolidators, an expert in the field tells this news service.

While M&A volume transactions for RIAs keep soaring to new highs, valuations haven’t kept up, and price expectations between buyers and sellers are widening.

The industry’s leading buyers, serial acquirers backed by private equity capital, “no longer expect valuations to rise,” and one-fifth of those consolidators surveyed by DeVoe & Company expect valuations to decline over the next six months, according to the firm’s just released Q2 RIA Deal Book.

“Valuations rose steadily and reached an all-time high in 2022 and have been resilient since then,” David DeVoe, CEO of his eponymous strategic consulting firm, said in an interview with Family Wealth Report. “We see no indication of a softening at present.”

M&A multiples for a well-managed RIA with approximately $5 billion in AuM can reach 20 times EBITDA, and firms managing tens of billions of dollars can command even more, according to DeVoe. Fast-growing, well run firms with around $1 billion in AuM can also command valuations in the “very high teens,” he said.

Buyer discipline putting lid on multiples
Buyers increasingly believe the market has reached its ceiling, but that view “is increasingly at odds with seller expectations,” according to the Deal Book. Nearly three-quarters of RIA consolidators say the gap between what sellers expect and what buyers are willing to pay is widening.

DeVoe blames the huge headline multiples given to very large sellers for setting unrealistic expectations for smaller firms. The Deal Book notes that the current buyers pool “yields an unusually wide range of valuation outcomes more akin to the Wild West. Some buyers will pay a premium for certain characteristics, while others discount the same attributes.”

Asked why RIA valuations aren’t rising, despite intense competition and more private equity firms eager to get in the game, DeVoe cited “buyer discipline” on the part of large consolidators who now have clearly defined criteria for which sellers are or aren’t a good fit.

On the other side of the transaction, the strategic decision to sell is no longer driven primarily by valuation, according to investment bank Marshberry’s Q2 M&A Trends Report. “For many firms, it is driven by the pursuit of durable growth and the enterprise capabilities required to sustain it,” the report states.

No mega-merger in sight
To be sure, there is still plenty of buying and selling. RIA M&A activity reached a new high in the first half of 2026 with 167 announced transactions, the seventh consecutive quarter of increased activity, according to the DeVoe report.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the much-anticipated mega-merger between giant RIAs with over $50 billion each in AuM though. DeVoe thinks there is less than a 30 per cent chance that will happen in the next year. Those mega- firms don’t need to join forces at present, according to DeVoe. “They’re growing effectively and they probably won’t achieve massive economies of scale.”

Instead, the industry’s acquisition sweet spot remains with firms that have between $1 billion and $5 billion in AuM, followed by firms with between $500 million and $1 billion in assets.

Hightower Advisors, Savant Wealth Management and Beacon Pointe Advisors were the most active consolidators through June, with eight acquisitions apiece, followed by Wealth Enhancement with six, Cerity Partners, EP Wealth, Mercer Advisors and Corient with five apiece and Waverly Advisors and CapTrust with four each.

Consolidators were followed by firms that DeVoe classifies as “RIA Buyers,” including Mission Wealth, which has bought three firms through June and The Mather Group, which has made two transactions to date.

The record-setting first half of the year showed that M&A deal activity “is not dependent on ideal market conditions,” and that issues like succession challenges and pursuit of scale and growth remain powerful drivers, with more of the same to come, the Deal Book concluded.