RIAs eye growth through mergers of equals, despite complexities

St. Louis-based Matter Family Office and IWP Family Office combined this week to create a $10 billion multifamily office, a merger of equals transaction that dealmakers expect will be replicated across the RIA M&A market in 2026.

Matter, which operates as a registered investment advisor, will run the newly merged multifamily office under its name and serve more than 140 family clients. Private equity investor BW Forsyth Partners backs Matter Family Office, which oversaw $3.6 billion in assets, according to its latest Form ADV. Denver-based IWP Family Office oversaw $3.9 billion, per its latest filing. 

A merger of equals (MOE) is one way for more mid-sized firms to compete in the RIA market, which Modera Wealth Management’s Vince Curtin sees being increasingly dominated by large aggregator firms. Curtin, who is head of M&A at the $15 billion RIA, spoke to InvestmentNews at the Schwab IMPACT conference in Denver in early November.

“Ten years ago, a firm of our size was quite large — a firm of $10 billion was quite large. Now you're seeing some of these mega RIAs become more prevalent,” said Curtin. “So I do think that you're going to see more MOEs in the near term, and they're difficult to pull off a lot of times because there are different models within the industry.”

Leading mega-RIA aggregator Creative Planning more than doubled its retirement business assets last month via its acquisition of SageView Advisory Group, bringing Creative Planning’s total AUM from $390 billion to $640 billion. That blockbuster consolidation followed two similar merger of equal-type transactions in August, when the Chicago-based $70 billion mega-RIA Cresset combined with the $124 billion institutional consulting firm Monticello Associates. Cleveland-based MAI Capital Management also doubled its size through buying Evoke Advisors in a deal involving RIAs that each managed about $30 billion apiece.

David Wahlen, who helps lead the M&A division at Merit Financial Advisors, said, “We're not there yet. I think we are looking to consider doing what we would call a transformational deal, maybe once every three years from a planning standpoint,” but clarifies that such a deal is unlikely to rise to a merger of equals for Merit, which manages about $20 billion and completed its 50th acquisition milestone last month. 

“I just don't see that working yet. I think a few firms have tried, and few firms have paid a lot of consultants money to figure that out and then back away at the final hour, because it becomes a very morbid discussion for a leadership team,” said Wahlen. “Who’s gonna be CEO? Which C-suite stays and which one goes?” he asked of complicated MOE deal dynamics. 

From this week’s Matter-IWP merger, Matter founder Katherine Lintz will be a managing partner in the new firm while IWP founder Charlie Willhoit will be CEO and managing partner of the new firm. Willhoit had been an equity research analyst with J.P. Morgan before becoming president of IWP in 2005.

"The new Matter Family Office was intentional about leadership from day one so we could avoid the typical tensions that come with a merger of equals," a spokesperson for Matter Family Office wrote to InvestmentNews.

"Our board brings together the founders of both firms along with our capital partners at BW Forsyth, giving each a clear voice in the most important strategic decisions. Day to day, the founders have divided C-suite responsibilities based on individual skills and experience, and the senior team has already spent several months working together, building trust and a shared way of operating," the Matter spokesperson wrote.

Matt Matrisian, president of the $30 billion RIA SEIA, told InvesmentNews at Schwab IMPACT that “in 2026 you'll start to see more mergers of equals coming into play as firms look to capitalize on scale,” adding that his firm could partake in an MOE. Sara Baker, EVP of mergers and acquisitions at Allworth Financial, told InvestmentNews that her $34 billion RIA acquirer is unlikely to consider a merger of equals. 

“I do think that when you merge two firms of equals together, it's going to take away from some investments that you can make in technology and AI and client experience, and right now we're just really laser focused on investing in our client experience,” said Baker. "I do think it's going to happen in the industry, though, that more than likely in the next 12 to 24 months there'll be some other headlines.” 

Update: Updated story includes emailed statement from Matter Family Office.