Alaris CEO Allen Darby says AI integration costs will cut RIA sale multiples

Alaris CEO Allen Darby expects AI to cut RIA sale valuations, a year after arguing that automation would lift multiples. The mechanism he describes is a productivity gap between buyer and seller: a buyer already running 200 households per advisor will price in the cost of fixing a seller's 100.

If buyers underwrite that gap, integration spending becomes a deduction from the offer rather than an expense absorbed after closing. The practices most exposed are those whose advisor productivity sits furthest below a buyer's benchmark. Darby's view is one executive's assessment, not a market forecast.

The Mather Group announced a deal adding Legacy Consulting Group, a Plano, Texas practice founded in 1997. The Chicago firm has disclosed more than $700 million in additions this year, including a $300 million New Jersey practice.

Mercer Advisors closed a $1.9 billion refinancing led by Goldman Sachs, its first syndicated loan, adding a $340 million revolving credit facility. The firm projects $35 million to $40 million in interest savings next year from the oversubscribed raise.

AlphaCore Wealth Advisory announced a separate $400 million transaction for Blue Rock Financial Group, a Sussex County, Del. practice founded by Todd Roselle. Neither announcement disclosed a purchase multiple; the figures reported in these deals are client-asset totals.