RIA IPO 'probably' coming within two years, dealmaker predicts

A registered investment advisor will probably go public within the next year or two, according to Corey Kupfer, founder and managing partner of Kupfer., PLLC, a law firm serving RIAs. He says the private equity cycle behind wealth management consolidation leaves little choice.

“The bottom line is, it has to happen at some point, or else we have a big problem,” Kupfer told InvestmentNews. “If you look at any PE cycle, that’s what they’re going to be pushing for.”

The largest PE-backed RIAs are stocking up on capital. Mercer Advisors, the Denver-based RIA with $111 billion in client assets, recently refinanced $1.9 billion of private debt with a seven-year term loan B. It was the firm’s first move into the broadly syndicated loan market. Citywire reported on Oct. 15 that $74 billion Beacon Pointe closed a $1.2 billion debt raise.

“When you’re playing at the Mercer level and the Beacon Pointe level, the bottom line is they’re racing to get as many deals as they can, hopefully with some deal discipline, but to get to the point where they can go up the ladder and then eventually IPO. I mean, that’s the ultimate goal for most of these companies,” Kupfer said.

“I would not expect a flood of IPOs anytime soon, but will somebody IPO in the next year or two? Probably, but it’s hard to say. Part of it will depend upon how market conditions stay,” Kupfer said.

RIA IPOs face headwinds

Precedent is thin. Edelman Financial went public in 2005 and private again in 2012. Focus Financial Partners returned to private ownership in 2023, five years after its IPO. Among the few listed wealth managers, New York-based AlTi Global trades on Nasdaq and reported $96 billion in assets in August 2026.

The first headwind, Kupfer said, is a slower IPO market. Data compiled by University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter shows 94 U.S. IPOs in 2025, compared with an average of about 420 a year in the 1990s.

“If you look at the pace of IPOs across the board across industries in recent years compared to what they were in the past, it’s significantly down. So, the IPO market is not as robust as it was,” he said.

Scale is the second hurdle, with even the largest RIA sizes being dwarfed by the value of technology or manufacturing firms aiming to go public. In October 2025, Creative Planning CEO Peter Mallouk said some of the biggest RIAs will eventually run out of room to stay private.

Working in the industry’s favor toward an IPO, Kupfer said, are recurring revenue figures and a shift toward integrated, single-brand platforms within RIA networks, such as the launch of Hightower Signature Wealth last fall and the rebranded Focus Partners Wealth.

"Firms like Focus Financial after going private, and Hightower, are starting to build much more integrated, single brand rinse and repeat models, which is what the IPO market wants," said Kupfer. "You have a phenomenal business model with recurring revenue, which the public markets love."

PE giants 'betting' on public exit

In July 2026, the Financial Times reported that Carlyle and Bain Capital were the final bidders for Wealth Enhancement Group. The Minnesota-based RIA oversees nearly $160 billion in client assets, and the deal was discussed at a valuation of roughly $7 billion including debt.

Kupfer said he has no specific insight into the deal but sees it as evidence that buyers expect an eventual listing.

“Folks like Bain, those kind of folks wouldn’t be looking at buying a WEG if they didn’t think that there would be a public market for that entity at some point. Doesn’t mean they think it’s going to happen in six months or a year—they got plenty of capital, and it’s profitable business,” he said. “But it’s just a clear indicator that the big money is still betting that this industry there will be an IPO market that develops.”