Advisory M&A Remains Strong, Despite Mixed Valuation Messages
Mergers and acquisitions of advisory firms continued to reach record levels in the first half of 2026, but sentiment about registered investment advisers’ valuation is mixed.
Consulting firm DeVoe & Co.’s latest RIA M&A Deal Book noted that the first half of the year saw a record-setting 167 M&A transactions among RIAs, with a year-over-year increase of 13%. The transaction total seemed to match consulting firm MarshBerry’s second-quarter M&A Trends report that counted a record-setting 187 M&A transactions for wealth management firms in the first half of this year, with a year-over-year increase of 2.7%.
However, when it comes to buyer sentiment, DeVoe surveyed more than 100 executives at “consolidators”—serial acquirers with acquisition strategies at the center of their business models—and 18% of respondents expected RIA valuations to decline in the latter half of the year, up from 7% in 2025. The large majority (82%) expected valuations to remain stable, down from 85% in 2025. None of the respondents expected valuations to increase this year, down from 8% last year.
Finding Firm Fits
Most respondents (73%) also predicted the gap between what sellers expect and what buyers are willing to pay will widen in the rest of the year. Only 9% thought that gap would narrow, and 18% said it would remain unchanged.
The percentage of respondents planning to increase acquisitions was 45%, down from 54% last year. Ten percent said they would decrease acquisitions, which no respondents planned last year.
As for acquisition target size, 46% of responding buyers said they wanted to acquire firms with between $1 billion to $5 billion in assets, and another 27% wanted firms with between $500 million and $1 billion in assets. Eighteen percent had no preference for size.
“Despite a slowdown in the second quarter, the underlying drivers of RIA M&A haven’t changed,” said Devoe & Co. CEO David DeVoe in a statement. “Buyers still have capital to deploy, sellers still face the same growth and succession challenges, and we continue to expect transaction activity to remain historically strong.”
Jessica Polito, founder of and principal in Turkey Hill Management LLC, which offers M&A advice to the wealth management industry, says buyers are “a little bit more focused on which firms they’re willing to bid on,” but she does not see a decrease in valuation.
“The firms that decide to submit offers are doing so because the selling firm fits very well into the direction that they’re hoping to move in the future,” Polito says. “As a result, the offers have not been any less competitive.”
While MarshBerry declined to comment on DeVoe’s report, the MarshBerry report stated that “demand for high-quality wealth management firms remains exceptionally strong, even as the industry continues to evolve.”
Barnaby Audsley, managing director at Echelon Partners LLC, wrote in an email to PLANADVISER that there is “more value shared with sellers than ever before,” and the M&A market is “highly competitive.”
“Demand for quality firms continues to outpace supply, … and competitive processes are still driving strong outcomes for sellers, particularly for firms with durable organic growth,” Audsley wrote.
The Makeup of Buyers
As with previous reports, MarshBerry found that private-equity-backed wealth acquirers were responsible for most (72%) of announced transactions in the first half of the year, which marked a slight decrease from last year’s share (74%). Independent acquirers had 23% of transactions so far this year, up from 20% last year. Public wealth managers have the same-sized share of transactions as last year—5%.
The 10 most-active M&A acquirers accounted for nearly one-third (32.1%) of all announced wealth management transactions, according to MarshBerry. The four most-active acquirers—Savant Wealth Management, Hightower Advisors, Carson Group and Wealth Enhancement Group—had eight deals each, for a total of 17.1% of transaction volume.
As for retirement-focused transactions, MarshBerry found there were eight announced deals through the end of June, six of which involved wealth management buyers, and two of which involved insurance brokerage buyers. While this year’s total is pacing far behind 2025’s total of 29 retirement-focused transactions and 2024’s total 24 transactions, MarshBerry Director John Orsini wrote in an email to PLANADVISER that it is “still too early to draw firm conclusions” about 2026, and the second half of the year can bring a “meaningful” number of announced transactions.
