Broker-dealers push deeper into RIA M&A as consolidators refinance

Independent broker-dealers are pushing deeper into RIA M&A. They are shopping for advisor practices, constructing employee-advisor RIAs and changing into acquisition rivals to nationwide RIA consolidators, in keeping with DeVoe & Company’s Q3 2026 RIA Deal Book. 

The San Francisco-based financial backing financial institution’s report, which found RIA deal volume fell 17% in the third quarter, ties the shift to an getting old advisor base. Citing LPL Financial’s first-quarter 2025 earnings name, DeVoe notes that roughly a 3rd of advisors are anticipated to retire or go away the business inside a decade, representing $14 trillion as broker-dealers adapt to maintain these property in-house versus advisors promoting to exterior corporations.  

“I feel what you are seeing is clearly the robustness of the RIA mannequin and the enterprise worth alternatives there are considerably past what you’re seeing within the brokerage fashions,” mentioned RIA M&A marketing consultant Corey Kupfer. “The [brokerage] mannequin is simply not as worthwhile. It’s not as helpful, when it comes to multiples.” 

Broker-dealer succession playbooks 

San Diego-based LPL has acquired greater than 75 practices since launching Liquidity & Succession in 2021, DeVoe mentioned, and has opened this system to exterior advisors. One analyst has estimated LPL could spend up to $800 million a year shopping for advisors’ companies. In July, LPL purchased Florida-based Good Life Advisors, which FINTRX ranked because the third quarter’s fifth-largest RIA deal by property.

Cetera Financial Group formed Cetera Planning Partners in April, an employee-advisor RIA with roughly $19 billion in property beneath advisement that it plans to increase by acquisitions. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Osaic grew its W-2 channel by its 2025 purchase of $13.5 billion CW Advisors and has since moved extra affiliated practices into it. 

Florida-based Raymond James, which recently reorganized its succession and capital solutions unit, takes a lender-and-investor strategy by way of practice-acquisition financing, minority fairness and full-equity offers. DeVoe says IBDs are usually not but as vital a power because the business’s high acquirers, however they now compete with RIAs and consolidators for a similar companies. 

Sellers with greater than $5 billion in AUM introduced 41 transactions by September, already surpassing each prior full-year complete, in keeping with DeVoe’s report. Jessica Polito, founding father of wealth management M&A agency Turkey Hill Management, says that founders nearing retirement is a driving sale issue of RIAs sized round $5 billion. 

“Larger acquisitions haven’t taken the place of smaller ones. We are nonetheless seeing an extremely sturdy marketplace for small and mid-sized unbiased RIAs,” added Polito. “My suspicion is that we’ll see a increase of bulletins as we head into the top of the yr for corporations of all sizes. Buyers nonetheless obtain larger arbitrage on smaller offers and the necessity for buying expertise has not gone away.” 

Smaller sellers, thought-about these beneath $500 million in property, accounted for 36% market share this yr by September, which was the bottom in DeVoe & Company’s monitoring historical past.  

“For smaller RIAs, the takeaway is that you’ll not win by matching the largest test. You win on imaginative and prescient, tradition, and possession,” mentioned Eric Amar, co-founder and CEO of Accelerated Wealth Partners, a minority investor in RIAs. 

A separate new report from FINTRX tracked $100.9 billion in acquired RIA property within the third quarter. According to FINTRX, about half of these property got here from two offers — Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s buy of Neos Investments ($30 billion) and Corient’s agreement to acquire Summit Trail Advisors ($21 billion). 

“Two transactions making up greater than half of reported Q3 acquired AUM tells me the whole is concentrated, not that urge for food has broadened,” added Amar. “Buyers are additionally getting higher at judging high quality by natural progress, advisor tenure, and depth of shopper relationships.” 

Consolidators refinance debt

Consolidators introduced 129 transactions by September 2026, or 53% of RIA M&A offers, their largest share since 2021, in keeping with DeVoe. Wealth Enhancement led acquirers with 16 offers, adopted by Hightower with 15, Savant Wealth Management with 10, whereas Beacon Pointe and Corient did eight every. Another 5 corporations, together with Mercer Advisors and EP Wealth, introduced 5 acquisitions apiece by September.

The largest patrons are additionally remodeling their debt. Mercer Advisors not too long ago refinanced $1.9 billion of private debt in its first transfer into the broadly syndicated mortgage market. The deal minimize its charge by 1.75 proportion factors, and Mercer initiatives $35 million to $40 million in curiosity financial savings in 2027. 

“Lenders are comfy with the asset class and the biggest consolidators are maturing financially,” Harris Baltch, co-head of financial backing banking at Dynasty Financial Partners, mentioned of current RIA refinancing.  

EP Wealth Advisors took out a $400 million seven-year term loan and a $100 million revolver in September 2025. Beacon Pointe closed a $1.2 billion debt elevate with $80 million earmarked for M&A, Citywire reported earlier this month. 

“Moving from personal credit score to broadly syndicated loans means the dimensions, recurring income and money circulation of those platforms now qualify for cheaper, longer-dated capital,” added Baltch. “The market is targeted on structuring debt nicely, with longer tenors and decrease spreads, somewhat than on whether or not debt is reasonably priced in any respect.” 

Rates shift deal construction

The Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point increase in September 2026 arrived after almost each third-quarter deal was already in movement, so it didn’t trigger the quarter’s exercise slowdown, in keeping with DeVoe’s Q3 2026 RIA Deal Book. Higher borrowing prices scale back a deal’s return until the customer pays much less, commits extra fairness or acquires a faster-growing agency, DeVoe mentioned in its report. 

“The incremental enhance in financing prices is greater than offset by the earnings margins RIAs generate. Take an RIA with 30% margins: if borrowing prices rise 50 foundation factors and the deal is 100% debt-financed, the added curiosity expense barely strikes the price of financing the acquisition,” mentioned Baltch. 

Baltch and Polito each mentioned increased charges are usually not affecting deal pricing. Polito mentioned the change is displaying up in how sellers are paid in deal construction between money and fairness payouts.

“Because it may be argued that issuing fairness is cheaper than taking up debt in the mean time, we have now seen extra buy consideration—particularly upfront funds—supplied in purchaser fairness somewhat than money. Where 5 years in the past we could have seen 10-15% of deal worth paid in fairness, at present business normal is nearer to 25-30%,” mentioned Polito.  

The median deal dimension of acquired RIAs has held between $384 million and $476 million throughout all seven quarters because the begin of 2025, when excluding transactions over $10B, in keeping with FINTRX. 

“Where acquisition price actually issues at scale is when the debt begins to amortize. At that time, the query is how a lot principal compensation eats into the acquirer’s precise free money circulation, and that has a a lot greater affect on deal economics than the interest rate itself,” Baltch added.