Fresh data shows a notable rise in the pace of mergers and acquisitions in what is still in some ways a fragmented wealth management industry. However, industry figures warned that market pullbacks and rate changes could derail some of this activity in future.

Expect the frantic 2025 pace of mergers and acquisitions activity for advisory firms to accelerate, albeit with some twists and turns and warning signals.

Just released, DeVoe & Company’s RIA Deal Book for 2025 recorded an impressive 18 per cent increase in year-over-year transactions, what the report calls “the most active period in RIA M&A history” with 322 deals overall, a new record. 

DeVoe & Co sees the trend continuing, driven by “internal succession challenges, as well as advisors' continued interest in the benefits of scale."

Industry executives surveyed by Family Wealth Report agree. 

“RIA M&A volume will continue to rise,” said Chip Roame, managing partner, Tiburon Strategic Advisors. “Tiburon expects the number of deals to be three times today’s numbers in five years.”

Current M&A valuations mean that “there are limited internal succession solutions that can fully take out G1 [first generation of owners],” said Harris Baltch, managing director and co-head of investment banking for Dynasty Financial Partners. “The recurring revenue of RIAs combined with a highly fragmented [advisor] universe will continue to keep valuations stable…and deal acceleration to continue.” 

Private equity interest
Consolidators, defined by DeVoe as serial buyers with  acquisition strategies at the center of their business, were the leading buyers last year, most backed by private equity financing.

Few executives expect private equity interest in RIAs to wane. 

“I bet there are 20 to 30 Tiburon member PE firms that still have yet to make their first RIA market investment,” said Roame. “Numerous other PE firms are making their second and third RIA market investments, either because the RIAs are in different markets or because the PE firms have exited their first deals.” 

“We still see a lot of liquidity in the PE backers’ coffers, and we are seeing new entrants in the marketplace all the time,” said Patrick Lawlor, head of M&A for Savant Wealth Management, which expects to close seven to 10 deals this year.

But Matt Cooper, president of Beacon Pointe Advisors, which is backed by PE powerhouse KKR – aka Kohlberg Kravis Roberts – notes that for larger deals “the pools of EBITDA that need to be refinanced are becoming too large for most PE firms, so there is a shrinking of potential investor pools as firms get larger.”

Mega-merger near?
The Deal Book report also noted that the pool of active RIA buyers shrank in 2025. Despite an increase of 50 transactions, there were 22 fewer buyers, resulting in an increase in the average number of transactions per buyer. “Consolidation at the top of the industry is accelerating,” the report stated, “with a smaller number of scaled acquirers accounting for a growing share of transactions.”

Will that concentration lead to a much anticipated mega-merger between two giant RIAs?

“We don't expect an aggressive 'consolidation of the consolidators' any time soon,” DeVoe said, “but at some point there will be one or more of the consolidators joining forces.” Savant also doesn’t foresee a mega-merger on the horizon. “We believe that we are still early in the consolidation phase of our industry,” Lawlor said.

Likewise, Cooper is not betting on an unprecedented merger happening this year. “I think the markets present too much of an opportunity to acquire sub-scale RIAs at attractive multiples,” he said. “Mega-mergers present a ton of complexity beyond just the math of the economics.”

Roame, however, is convinced that “we are close. Within the next 24 months, Tiburon believes that there will be one $100 billion RIA buying another.”

More likely are “more deals for founders at earlier stages if they see  a value proposition in joining a firm with more capabilities,” according to Richard Chen, managing partner at Brightstar Law Group, as opposed to transactions where founders are “merely monetizing.”

Caveats
While the odds of an M&A slowdown are low, executives said, caveats remain.

"There are no glaring headwinds to slow RIA M&A on the horizon,” DeVoe said. “The regulatory environment is more likely to drive up M&A than to slow it. The impact of AI will take time to affect the industry. As always, a stock market decline or sustained market volatility would likely slow M&A.”

Interest rates changes or a sustained market decline could “derail” M&A activity, Lawlor said. “We don't foresee a substantial rate increase in the near future, so we believe a large and sustained market correction could dramatically change the current climate.”

Cooper warned that an M&A slowdown may be the result of “a further narrowing of multiples between platform acquisitive firms and smaller acquisition targets, accompanied by a broader failure to increase pure organic growth rates, net of custodian referral programs and net of advisor adds that bring their books.”

New wrinkles in ‘26
What changes can buyers and sellers expect this year?

Watch out for sovereign wealth funds, said Roame. “Tiburon has a series of sovereign wealth fund members looking to invest in the highest end of the RIA market” he said. 

Investors are beginning to discount the custodian referral programs (CRPs) as a measure of organic growth, according to Cooper. “I also believe cost synergies and head count reduction becomes a much bigger issue and negotiating point in the near future.”

Expect more scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Chen. “I think the SEC will be focusing on conflict disclosures when it comes to sellers communicating about the deal to their clients,” he said.