Q3 RIA deal counts fall at DeVoe, Piper Sandler and Fintrx

DeVoe & Company, Piper Sandler and Fintrx each counted fewer RIA deals in the third quarter than a year earlier. DeVoe logged 77 transactions, a 17% decline from a year earlier. Piper Sandler recorded 89 in data pulled for Wealth Management, down from 93 in the same period of 2025. Fintrx found 60, down from 62.

DeVoe attributed the drop to market volatility, which the firm said crimped dealmaking among smaller RIAs whose founders and leaders are closer to clients. "Client calls and portfolio reviews multiply, concern about the firm's own performance rises, and leadership attention shifts away from strategic initiatives," its analysts wrote. "Time spent reassuring clients is time not spent on M&A." DeVoe counts sales of independent RIAs with at least $100 million in assets under management.

Piper Sandler applies the same $100 million cutoff and counted 89 deals, twelve more than DeVoe for the quarter. "We are not seeing a slowdown in deal activity," said Cameron Hoerner, a managing director in the financial services group at Piper Sandler, who pointed to the pace of dealmaking since the start of 2025. "There remains a wide universe of acquisitive platforms looking to grow inorganically, while sellers continue to come to market looking for the broader resources that these larger platforms can bring."

Fintrx posted the smallest decline of the three, two deals, though its total sits lower by design: the firm excludes transactions by private equity firms, banks and insurers.

To reach 323 deals and a record on its count, DeVoe needs 79 in the fourth quarter. That is below the 81 transactions it counted in the fourth quarter of both 2025 and 2024, and two more than the 77 it just recorded. "The third-quarter slowdown has put a record year in doubt, but it has not taken one off the table," its analysts wrote. Spread across the quarter, that is a little over six deals a week, a pace the market cleared in each of the last two fourth quarters.

Fidelity's midyear report, which we covered in September, put the median acquired RIA at $630 million, up from $517 million.

DeVoe's 17% decline implies a year-earlier third quarter of roughly 93 transactions on its methodology, near the 93 Piper Sandler counted for that period. The two counts diverged more in 2026 than in 2025. DeVoe also finished the quarter better than it started it: the 19% decline it reported through Sept. 22, which we covered, eased to 17%.