RIA M&A Breaks Records in 2025

Mergers-and-acquisitions activity among registered investment advisers and wealth advisory firms had its busiest year yet. By consulting firm Echelon’s tally, 2025’s total deal volume hit 466, a year-over-year increase of 27.3% from 2024.

RIAs accounted for 73.6% of M&A activity in the wealth management industry last year, up from 71.6% in 2024 and 58.1% in 2020. Last year also posted a record for billion-dollar M&A deals, with 185 involving wealth managers with at least $1 billion in assets under management. That was a 32.1% increase from 2024, which beat out the previous record of 145 deals in 2021.

According to Echelon, the acceleration in dealmaking was fueled by repeat acquirers that closed multiple deals and expanded private equity investments in the industy, driving each quarter’s deal volume to more than 100 deals. The report also noted that buyers are using M&A to build cross-functional models and expand client services across planning, investment, tax and estate needs.

While the number of new buyers increased year-over-year by 17.6% in 2025, new investors only accounted for 15% of assets transacted, down from 29% in 2024. Echelon predicted new buyers’ share of deals to increase in 2026, due to new private equity firms entering the wealth management and advisory segment. While private equity firms only accounted for 9.4% of total M&A activity in 2025, private equity-backed buyers have remained a dominant player in RIA M&A. PE-backed buyers were responsible for 56.8% of last year’s deals that were $1 billion or larger.

The report predicted that buyers would continue to focus on smaller acquisitions that enable them to expand their footprint. Firms with less than $1 billion in assets under management accounted for less than 14.3% of total assets transacted but represented more than half (54%) of announced transactions.

Some of the biggest transactions in 2025 included the acquisition of Cardinal Investment Advisors by Mariner Wealth Advisors, which brought $292 billion in assets to the acquiring firm. Bain Capital’s April investment in Lincoln Financial was the year’s largest transaction, involving $321 billion in assets. Other major acquisitions included LPL Financial buying broker/dealer Commonwealth Financial Network for $2.7 billion in March and the Creative Planning LLC acquiring SageView Advisory Group in September, combining to form a firm with $640 billion in total client assets.

As for 2026, Echelon anticipates another year of record transactions and deal volume, saying that the wealth management industry “remains a very attractive investment opportunity for buyers,” citing “optimism” among buyers and sellers. The report also highlights that firms with $1 billion to $10 billion in assets are increasingly at a scale where growth needs to be supported by M&A and recruiting. Last year, 147 firms in that asset range took part in transactions, up from 113 in 2024.