This Week in Wealth Who’s been busy buying RIAs?
Apr 17, 2026
Alec Rich, a Citywire reporter who analyzes RIA M&A data, joins to unpack Q1 deal activity. He highlights who has been buying, deal types and sizes, active acquirers and PE backers. The conversation also covers Osaic’s Bain-backed capital raise and LPL/PAG’s purchase of Mariner’s $31bn platform business.
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Private Equity Aggregators Still Dominate RIA Deals
- Private equity-backed aggregators continue to dominate RIA M&A activity in Q1 2026.
- Citywire tracked 80 deals covering $517.8bn AUA (excluding a $1.2tn charity partner deal), showing concentrated PE-driven activity.
Q1 Deal Count And Median Sizes
- Citywire recorded 80 RIA deals in Q1 with 52 unique dealmakers and $517.8bn in collective assets (excluding a $1.2tn outlier).
- Pure RIA acquisitions were ~50 deals; median acquisition target AUM was about $1bn while stake sales median was $2.3bn.
Serial Minority Investors Create Deal Network Effects
- Serial minority investors are increasingly active buyers of RIA stakes and those backed RIAs often become acquirers themselves.
- Examples include Constellation-backed Merit Financial Advisors acting as an aggregator after taking minority capital.