Succession & selling a firm: archive
Every Succession & selling a firm story in Advisors, newest first. 71 stories
1 story
Wolfe Research's Steve Chubak explains how investors separate recruiting and organic growth
In an Oct. 22 WealthManagement.com episode, he outlines the investor questions on growth sustainability, cost and capital deployment.
5 stories
RIA acquisitions through Sept. 22, 2026, ran 19% below 2025 pace
Cerulli estimates 35% of advisors, responsible for 40% of industry assets, expect to retire within the next decade.
Alaris banker warns slow AI adoption could lower RIA sale multiples
Median RIA valuations reached a record 11.6 times EBITDA in 2025, per Advisor Growth Strategies, and Darby said buyers may read an AI laggard as overstaffed.
Meira Wealth's Jorge Padilla describes intern-to-owner succession
The Coral Gables firm holds $318 million in regulatory assets and six employees, WAD records show.
Beacon Pointe buys $1B WorthPointe; founder Van Slyke won't join
Terms were not disclosed; WorthPointe's Austin and Tyler offices become new Beacon Pointe locations.
SEC adds advisors involved in RIA mergers to fiscal 2026 exam priority list
Legacy billing errors, undisclosed conflicts and incomplete records can outlast an RIA deal, Wealth Solutions Report says.
2 stories
DeVoe: RIA deal volume down 17% as broker-dealers enter M&A
LPL, Cetera, Osaic and Raymond James compete with consolidators for the same practices, while $5 billion-plus sellers set a record, DeVoe says.
Beacon Pointe adds $1.35 billion in client assets; Wealthspire buys Atlantic Swiss
Beacon Pointe's three deals push its total past $70 billion in assets under management; Atlantic Swiss oversees more than $1 billion in assets under management and administration.
3 stories
MarshBerry tallies record 294 U.S. wealth advisory deals through September
Private-equity-backed acquirers took 72% of announced deals through Q3; the ten most active buyers took one-third of all announced transactions.
Family offices took part in 342 Q3 2026 deals with $68.3 billion disclosed capital
FINTRX says AI and wealth management consolidation dominated the quarter, but the reported figures give no separate count, value or multiple for wealth-management deals.
RIA deal count falls 17% as $5B sellers set record, DeVoe says
Mercer Advisors refinanced $1.9 billion in a Goldman Sachs-led loan, cutting the rate by 1.75 points and saying the savings will fund acquisitions.
5 stories
Mercer Advisors refinances $1.9 billion in first broadly syndicated loan
The seven-year term loan and $340 million revolver, led by Goldman Sachs, cut the rate by 1.75 points; Mercer says savings will fund acquisitions.
DeVoe: RIA deal count falls 17% in Q3; $5B-plus sellers set record
Consolidators announced 53% of all deals, and sellers with $100 million to $500 million in assets are on track for a record-low 36% full-year share.
DeVoe counts 77 RIA M&A deals in Q3, down 17% as consolidators gain share
DeVoe projects 320 to 340 RIA transactions in 2026, straddling 2025's record of 322.
AmeriFlex, Genesis execs: Name successor before client handoff
In an Oct. 15 Wealth Solutions Report roundup, they describe identifying a successor early so clients know them before transition.
DeVoe counts 77 third-quarter RIA deals, down 17%; a record year needs 79 in Q4
Piper Sandler counted 89 third-quarter deals, down from 93, and says deal activity has not slowed.
1 story
VestGen lands Willow Tree credit facility to fund RIA acquisitions
The Chicago aggregator has 19 firms and $7.5 billion in platform assets; the credit facility's size was not disclosed.
3 stories
WealthManagement.com column argues sell-and-stay unblocks advisor succession plans
The column says identity, not valuation or terms, stalls advisor succession, and a phased structure separates an executed plan from one on a whiteboard.
September RIA deals: median acquired firm held $489.5M in assets
Two transactions accounted for 68.3% of the month's $38.16 billion in acquired-firm AUM, per Wealth Solutions Report.
Build RIA leadership and operating structure before a sale, Wealth Solutions Report says
The article recommends a future organizational chart to identify missing roles and capabilities before M&A.
1 story
Carlyle took a minority stake in Prime Capital Financial, where 170 advisors own equity
The $52 billion firm says 95% of its assets are managed by advisors who hold equity, and prior investor Abry Partners exited in the recapitalization.
1 story
Hightower Signature to add $1 billion Synergy, a partner since 2017
The announced deal would add 15 employees and push the Hightower Signature channel past $40 billion in assets.
3 stories
Hightower Signature to add $1B Synergy Capital Solutions
The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., RIA has been a Hightower partner since 2017; the announced deal would bring 15 employees and push the channel past $40 billion in assets.
RIA partner buy-ins should be debt-financed, not savings-funded, column argues
The column's authors cite a 40% higher completion rate for structured-capital transitions than for personal-wealth funding.
Merit Financial acquires $1.1B Orchard Park advisory practice
The 13-person team gives the Atlanta RIA its first New York office and will close its own RIA.
1 story
Bridgemark's Jeff Nash on how RIA sales change G2 advisors' path to ownership
The sale can deliver a financial windfall while altering the route to independence, with founder-side guidance on timing, equity terms and legal counsel.
3 stories
Wealth Solutions Report outlines post-LOI pitfalls that can erode RIA sale value
Closing-date pressure, consent timing and equity terms can still change what a founder collects after a letter of intent is signed, according to the October 5 piece.
Private Advisor Group CFO Adam Schorr on why buyers and sellers price the same practice differently
Schorr tells Wealth Solutions Report that transferability can be improved in the final year, while founder dependency takes years to unwind.
Bahnsen Group agrees to add $1.1 billion Hightower Naples practice under its brand
The Bahnsen Group's first deal to put another Hightower team under its brand is expected to close at year-end.
1 story
Ensemble Practice survey finds 4.3% client attrition at RIAs above $1 billion in 2023
Philip Palaveev contrasts 4.3% at the largest firms with 1.4% below $500 million and points to service by employees who hold no equity stake.
1 story
Fidelity tells sub-$100 million RIAs to grow or move by June 2027
The notices went to affected firms, and the threshold counts assets held at Fidelity rather than total firm AUM.
1 story
Timewise Financial's Caroline Piehl describes succeeding her father as managing partner
On the Talent Stack podcast, Piehl says she retained the firm's integrated tax and wealth planning model while changing technology and investment strategy gradually.
2 stories
The RIA deal dip is a seller's calendar problem
The 239 deals through September 22 put the year two ahead of last year's record pace and the quarter 19% behind it, a split that should shape a succession timeline.
In RIA sales, the entity chart beats the multiple
The July 2025 tax law made the real number in a practice sale depend on a structure the owner chose years before any buyer called.
2 stories
A soft RIA deal quarter tells sellers about 2025, not 2027
DeVoe's 19% dip counts decisions made a year ago, which makes it a reading on timing rather than a reading on value.
Dynasty broadens the RIA capital menu; the successor still goes unnamed
The capital menu answers how a founder gets paid; naming the successor is a different transaction, and the money does not touch it.
1 story
The successor is a buyer, and the terms are missing
Edward Jones and Morning Consult found that 86% of junior advisors want to inherit a retiring founder's practice, while only 38% of senior advisors anticipating a transition within five years have named a successor—a gap that reads as a documentation failure and prices like an offer left unwritten.
1 story
Buyers still pay up. They want the file first
Deal counts fell 9% while seller assets climbed 88%, and the gap between those two numbers is where a founder's pitch and the premium get decided.
1 story
Aggregator equity turns a sale into a bet on someone else's roll-up
Equity now makes up 25% to 40% of a typical advisor exit, sometimes 75%, and the headline multiple means little if the second liquidity event never arrives.
1 story
Three exits, three prices, one book
The same client list got three prices this week: a $1.3 billion custody move at 25 basis points, a wirehouse grid paying above its own top rate, and a House-passed ESOP standard.