The Wire

“We’re in the early stages, particularly of wealth-centric and retirement-centric firms coming together. It’s been happening slowly, and I think it’s going to pick up for the next few years,” says DeNoyior, who adds that Hub is actively looking for wealth management practice acquisitions that make strategic sense. “Many retirement plan-centric firms are focusing more on bringing in wealth management advisers. And many wealth management advisers are opening up more to joining a bigger firm to enhance their services.”

Can CI Financial disrupt the RIA M&A market again?

In just over two years the Canadian asset management giant has steamrolled its way to the top rung of the RIA business by buying nearly three dozen US advisory firms with over $130 billion in assets – often paying premium prices to outbid rivals.

The never-ending search for talent is part of the driving force behind the fast-paced increases in financial advisory firms’ mergers and acquisitions, according to Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors, a national financial services firm.

“Acquisitions always have been about talent acquisition for us. That is our number one objective,” Bicknell said Wednesday during a webinar sponsored by Advisor Growth Strategies, a management consulting and transaction advisory firm.

Valuations for registered investment advisory firms have reached all-time highs in the past couple of years, but one M&A consultant and two seasoned RIA acquirers say prices may finally be topping out.

“I believe valuations have topped,” said John Furey, managing partner at Advisor Growth Strategies, a management consulting firm, during a webinar. “Based on the bids we’re seeing now, they’re equal or less to what they were last year.”

The struggle for independent advisors to find and keep the right people fuels a record-setting merger and acquisition climate. In its 2022 RIA Survey, Advisor Growth Strategies polled 101 independent firms to uncover their perspectives on business management and M&A. More than half of this year’s respondents manage greater than $1 billion in client assets, and 77% are fee-only RIAs. Their answers reveal an industry that is anxious about talent even as it gears up for more deal-making.

Morgan Stanley is selling a $15 billion registered investment advisory business that it purchased last year as part of its Eaton Vance acquisition.

Eaton Vance WaterOak Advisors, which has a history dating to the 1920s, was sold in two parts, to CI Financial and Pathstone, according to announcements Thursday morning.