Concurrent eyes $3B to $10B RIA platforms after Spire buy

The sale of $5.4 billion hybrid RIA Spire Investment Partners marks the first platform business acquisition for Concurrent, but CEO Nate Lenz expects more additions up to twice the size of Spire’s assets. 

“We think that there's a good addressable market for firms in this, call it $3 [billion] to $10 billion range where they've built some scale, they've got a culture of their own. They've been able to demonstrate repeatable growth, but would still benefit from aligning with a partner and platform like [Concurrent],” Lenz told InvestmentNews. “[Spire] is just the first of what we hope to be a number of deals like this.” 

McLean, Virginia-headquartered Spire was founded in 1997 and provides infrastructure to support more than 30 advisor teams across 14 states. Spire’s addition expands Concurrent’s footprint to 33 states with $28.6 billion in assets under management, in addition to $18 billion in corporate retirement plan assets under advisement. 

Less RIA deals, more assets

Tampa, Florida-based Concurrent bought the 401(k) plan-focused Next Retirement Solutions last year, which carried about $10 billion in retirement assets. That remains Concurrent’s largest deal by assets, but Spire has the biggest revenue impact. 

“The Next Retirement acquisition there was about $10 billion in retirement assets, but that's corporate retirement plan 3(21) and 3(38) consulting work. The revenue on those assets is much lower. So from a revenue profitability standpoint, [Spire] is absolutely the largest one we've done to date,” said Lenz. 

Concurrent’s eye towards buying larger platform RIAs fits the industry’s broader M&A trend. While the number of RIA acquisitions is shrinking, deals are getting bigger as total client assets involved in M&A transactions jumped 88% to $343 billion, according to Fidelity’s midyear report. 

“I think this is a new opportunity for us. If we can find other platforms, we want to be selective in doing so, but if we can find other ones that fit our mold, we think that's a great growth strategy for us,” said Lenz. “Ideally, if we can do another one or two of these a year that can help us achieve our goals and objectives, taking some nice step changes from a growth perspective.” 

The existing acquisition strategy for Concurrent has largely been focused on adding breakaway advisors, with Lenz saying his firm has recruited more than $6 billion in assets from individual advisor teams so far this year. Concurrent has been backed by private equity firm Merchant Investment Management, since July 2021 

Fidelity at the core

Spire was founded by David Blisk, whose team will transfer 17 home-office staff into Concurrent as McLean become's Concurrent's fourth home office presence joining Tampa, Dallas, and San Diego. Both Spire and Concurrent are hybrid RIAs built on a 1099 independent-contractor model, and both run multi-custodial platforms anchored by Fidelity.  

Spire held the majority of its regulatory assets at Fidelity's National Financial Services as of its June 2026 Form ADV, also using Schwab and a small share at Pershing. Concurrent, which also custodies with Schwab and Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions, has “upwards of $20 billion” in assets held with Fidelity and is adding Pershing to match Spire's custodial lineup, according to Lenz. 

“I think what really made Spire the right fit was the fact that their philosophical model lines up,” said Lenz. “It's almost like looking in a mirror in terms of the fact that they have a 1099 platform model, the way that they think about like advisor branding, support. Being able to really give the advisors a high level of independence and autonomy is very much in line with our belief system and how we operate.”