RIA M&A Review 2026: Deal Trends, Top Acquirers, and H2 Outlook

About The Episode

In this episode of Dakota Insights, Chris LeRoy and Alex deMarco break down Dakota's first-half 2026 review of RIA M&A, covering 205 announced transactions and roughly $400.7 billion in acquired client AUM — and the two forces driving that number: a deal count that's settled into a remarkably steady ~100-per-quarter pace, and a dollar total that swings hard depending on whether a single mega-deal lands in a given quarter, as Carlyle's $72.6 billion majority stake in MAI Capital Management did in Q1.

They walk through who's actually capturing that volume — Cerity Partners, Hightower Advisors, and Wealthspire lead H1 AUM, while Carson Group and Wealth Enhancement stand out as the quarter's most prolific serial acquirers — and unpack the widening gap between mega-platforms like CAPTRUST, Creative Planning, and Mariner Wealth Advisors, which have scaled past $1 trillion and largely locked in centralized approval lists, and the emerging $5–50 billion tier (Prime Capital Financial, EP Wealth Advisors, Waverly Advisors, Merit Financial Advisors, Arax Advisory Partners, and OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners) where manager relationships haven't consolidated yet. They also dig into how deal structures are diversifying beyond the traditional majority buyout, with minority stakes, continuation vehicles, and the first PE-to-PE recaps all gaining ground.

They close with the quarter's active and rumored transactions — THL's process to sell a controlling stake in Hightower, CD&R's minority sale in Focus Financial, the Carlyle-versus-Bain bidding war for Wealth Enhancement, and smaller moves from Parallel Advisors, Summit Trail, LPL, Novare Capital, and Macquarie — plus a look ahead to H2 2026, where another record year is likely regardless of whether a new mega-deal materializes.

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RIA M&A Review 2026: Deal Trends, Top Acquirers, and H2 Outlook

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