With two weeks to go until the new year, 2024 has already proven to be one for the books in terms of RIA mergers and acquisitions.
That's according to a new data release from DeVoe & Company, which tallied deals for the year up to December 19 as part of the firm's long-running survey of deals.
Focusing on transactions involving at least $100 million in AUM, it said the RIA sector reached a new milestone this year with mergers and acquisitions hitting an all-time high of 269 transactions. That edges out the previous high watermark of 265 deals in 2023, the investment bank and deal consultancy firm reported Thursday.
Building on an October burst in dealmaking, the final quarter of 2024 has also been the most active on record, with 78 transactions announced so far.
DeVoe & Company pointed to several factors contributing to the deal frenzy this year. Aside from rising stock markets boosting valuations, it pointed to the reality of reduced borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve moves to cut interest rates, as well as stiffer competition among the industry's most major players.
“A record fourth quarter pushed a strong year into the ‘record year’ category,” David DeVoe, the firm's eponymous founder and CEO said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “The primary decision-drivers of sellers continue to be rooted in the benefits of scale and solving for succession.”
Some of the most jaw-dropping deals in the fourth quarter came this month, as some of the strongest and most prolific aggregators looked to finish the year strong with a last-minute rally in acquisitions.
On Wednesday, Summit announced a minority staking deal for Gordon Asset Management, a North Carolina-based RIA with $220 million in assets under management and approximately $1.1 billion in qualified retirement plan assets.
A day earlier, Corient, the US wealth subsidiary of Canada-based CI Financial, revealed a blockkbuster agreement to snap up H.M. Payson, Maine’s largest RIA with $7.9 billion in assets under management. That transaction, set to close next year, would represent Corient's first expansion into the state.
Prior to that, Lido Advisors advanced its own inorganic growth strategy with a deal for Avitas Wealth Management, a fellow LA-based RIA that oversees $1.1 billion in regulatory assets under management.
A former Alabama investment advisor and ex-Kestra rep has been permanently barred and penalized after clients he promised to protect got caught in a $2.6 million fraud.
As more active strategies get packaged into the ETF wrapper, advisors and investors have to look beyond expense ratios as the benchmark for value.
Survey finds AI widely embedded in research and analysis, but barely touching portfolio construction or trade execution.
Two firms land teams managing more than $1.1 billion in combined assets from Kestra and Edward Jones.
A private partnership, Edward Jones is a giant in the retail brokerage industry with more than 20,000 financial advisors.
Wellington explores how multi strategy hedge funds may enhance diversification
As technical expertise becomes increasingly commoditized, advisors who can integrate strategy, relationships, and specialized expertise into a cohesive client experience will define the next era of wealth management
