Key RIA Channel Updates and Insights for December 2025

A record-breaking year for consolidation and investment in the RIA space ended with a bang, not a whimper, as Dakota tracked 28 M&A transactions representing more than $21B in AUM during the month of December, bringing the fourth-quarter tally to 87 deals representing a substantial $383B in AUM.

Notable deals during the month included the merger of Ameriprise-affiliated advisors in the Pacific Northwest – Heritage Wealth Advisors and AGP Wealth Advisors – forming a firm managing more than $8B in client assets, as well as Waverly Advisors' acquisition of Promus Holdings' wealth-related business lines managing $3.1B in assets. Wealth Enhancement, which is backed by TA Associates and Onex, made headlines not just for its acquisition of $2.2B hybrid RIA L.M. Kohn & Company, but for being the busiest acquirer during the month, announcing seven acquisitions during December representing more than $4.4B in client assets.

On the growth investments front, Dakota tracked a solid seven minority stake deals during December, with serial investor Merchant Investment Management, which counts Sixth Street among its backers, leading the way with three separate deals. Internationally, US RIA aggregator Creative Planning made waves with its acquisition of $4.8B UK wealth manager Maseco Private Wealth.

By many counts, the consolidation boom experienced in 2025 is expected to continue. In its recent asset and wealth management outlook report for 2026, PwC said it believes lower financing costs, ongoing fee pressure, and the push for scale and specialized capabilities will continue to fuel wealth manager consolidation. That largely echoes findings in a year-end review evaluating the state of the RIA market by Dakota Research, which also noted that sponsor-backed RIA aggregators should continue to dominate deal activity given the structural advantages the channel provides them, including the ability to introduce proprietary or affiliated alternative products, centralized model portfolios, and institutional solutions across a broad advisor base.

Read on for a roundup of all the month’s RIA M&A and sponsor-backed investment news. 

Announced M&A

Northeast

• TPG Capital- and General Atlantic-backed Creative Planning did two deals in the Northeast in December, acquiring Bethesda, MD-based RIA Burt Wealth Advisors, adding $1B in AUM, and buying Doylestown, PA-based RIA Marshall Financial Group, adding more than $900M in AUM.
• Mercer Advisors – which is majority owned by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital, and Altas Partners – acquired Baltimore-based Glass Jacobson Wealth Advisors, adding approximately $1B in AUM. The firm is led by CEO Jonathan Dinkins and includes a team of over 20 advisors, planners, and analysts.
• In yet another Maryland deal, MAI Capital Management, which is backed by Galway Holdings and Wealth Partners Capital Group, acquired Columbia, MD-based RIA Lowe Wealth Advisors and its $527M in AUM. Lowe Wealth serves HNW clients, along with foundation and endowment trustees, and it also specializes in working with medical and trauma care professionals.
• Folsom, CA-based Allworth Financial – which is backed by Lightyear Capital and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board – acquired Needham, MA-based RIA FSA Wealth Management, which has about $460M in AUM. The five-advisor team will relocate to Allworth’s Waltham, MA, office.
• Sammons Financial Group’s Wealthcare Capital Management acquired Wilmington, DE-based RIA Crowley Wealth Management, which manages around $417M of client assets. Terms of the deal, which brings Wealthcare’s AUM to around $10B, were not disclosed.
• Emigrant Partners-backed Dakota Wealth Management acquired Reading, PA-based RIA Lindenwold Advisors, which manages around $300M in client assets. The firm had been controlled by its president and CIO Jim King, who will become a shareholder in Dakota along with two other Lindenwold employees.
• Birmingham, AL-based Waverly Advisors – which is backed by Wealth Partners Capital Group- and HGGC – acquired Malvern, PA-based RIA Forefront Wealth Management, adding approximately $257M in AUM. Carl Schultz, Forefront’s CEO and CIO, joins Waverly as a partner and wealth advisor.
• Moneco Advisors formally wrapped up its acquisition of Glastonbury, CT-based Lichtenstein Financial and affiliated tax firm, Lichtenstein Tax Consultants. The transaction involved a multi-year integration that paved the way for the launch of Moneco Tax, which adds tax planning and preparation to the service offering of the Fairfield, CT-based RIA.

Southeast

• Merchant Investment Management-backed, Mount Pleasant, SC-based Apollon Wealth Management agreed to acquire $1.5B Motley Fool Wealth Management. President Megan Brinsfield will join Apollon in the deal, which does not include Motley Fool Asset Management.
• Wealth Enhancement did two deals in the Southeast region in December, agreeing to acquire Baton Rouge, LA-based RIA Dent Wealth Advisors, adding more than $340M in client assets, and combining with Ascent Private Wealth, a Spartanburg, SC-based hybrid RIA overseeing more than $240M in client assets, effective December 31.
• MCF Advisors, a Lexington, KY-based RIA backed by Wealth Partners Capital Group (WPCG) and HGGC Aspire Holdings, acquired fee-only RIA Accredited Wealth Management (AWM), adding $178M in AUM. The acquisition increases MCF's total AUM to $3.9B and expands its presence in Louisville, KY.

Midwest

• Wealth Enhancement was especially busy in the Midwest region in December, doing three deals on the month: further expanding its national footprint again with the acquisition of L.M. Kohn & Company, a Cincinnati-based hybrid RIA overseeing more than $2.2B in client assets; acquiring Carmel, IN-based hybrid RIA FPG Private Wealth and its $532M in client assets; and agreeing to acquire $468M RIA AEGIS Financial, which operates offices in Oshkosh, Appleton, and Milwaukee, WI.
• Wealth Partners Capital Group (WPCG)- and HGGC Aspire Holdings-backed Waverly Advisors acquired certain business lines from Chicago-based Promus Holdings, a move that strengthens Waverly’s family office services for UHNW clients and deepens its expertise in private equity and real estate. The transaction brings approximately $3.1B in AUM and includes the formation of Promus Capital Management as a new Waverly subsidiary to build on the acquired Promus Access and Promus Realty strategies.
• Earned – an RIA focused on healthcare workers that is backed by Summit Partners, Silversmith Capital Partners, Breyer Capital, Hudson Structured Capital Management, and Juxtapose – acquired $1B Cincinnati-based RIA OJM Group, bringing Earned’s AUM to $3.4B.
• Constellation Wealth Capital-backed Procyon Partners – which is part of the Dynasty Financial Partners Network – acquired Flint, MI-based RIA OLV Investment Group, adding $500M in AUM. OLV has seven financial advisors and also has offices in Texas.
• United Capital Financial Advisors acquired Leawood, KS-based RIA Groebl Brothers, adding $240M to its AUM, marking the Irving, TX-based firm's third acquisition of 2025.

Southwest

• In its ninth acquisition of the year, EP Wealth Advisors – which is backed by Ares Management, Berkshire Partners, and Wealth Partners Capital Group (WPCG) – acquired Clearview Wealth Advisors, adding $218M in AUM. Clearview is led by Michael Coursey and Corbin Coursey, who founded the firm in Salem, OR, but recently relocated to Phoenix.

West

• Two Ameriprise Financial-affiliated firms – Mercer Island, WA-based Heritage Wealth Advisors and Renton, WA-based AGP Wealth Advisors – have merged to form an advisory managing more than $8B in clident assets. The combined operation will be led by Heritage’s Erin Scannell and Mark Traut alongside AGP’s Griffin Meyers and Randy Linde.
• Wealth Enhancement did two deals for the month in the West region, agreeing to acquire Logan, UT-based hybrid RIA Wealth Advocates, which specializes in working with current or former employees of the State of Utah, Intermountain Healthcare, Northrop Grumman, and Utah State University and adds $476M in client assets, and purchasing Irvine, CA-based RIA Spectrum Wealth Management and its affiliated accounting firm, adding $182M in client assets.
• Also doing two deals in the region in December was Mercer Global Advisors – which is backed by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital, and Altas Partners – as it agreed to acquire Portland, OR-based Thompson Advisory Services, adding $260M in client assets, and also agreed to buy Boise, ID-based McConnell Financial Advisors, adding $130M in AUM.
• Lido Advisors – which has over $38B in regulatory AUM and is backed by HPS Investment Partners, Charlesbank Capital Partners, and Constellation Wealth Capital – agreed to acquire Beverly Hills, CA-based RIA Stuart Chaussée & Associates (SC&A), adding over $500M in regulatory AUM.
• Akron, OH-based Sequoia Financial Group acquired Pasadena, CA-based Sterling Financial Group, an RIA with $406M in AUM. With the deal, Sterling's Michael Hatch and Kody Brown are now equity owners in Sequoia, which has around $30B in AUM.

M&A Rumors

Though deal activity was strong in December, rumored deal activity was decidedly on the lighter side. That doesn't mean some major deals aren't in the offing though, led by Corient, which has reportedly held talks to acquire ALTi Global and its $97B-plus in total assets under management and advisement in a take-private deal. Meanwhile, Summit Partners has reportedly engaged Raymond James to help find a buyer for its majority stake in Newtown, MA-based RWA Wealth Partners. Summit invested in the $19.7B RIA in 2020, which was at the time called Adviser Investments. Finally, $8B Tulsa, OK-based Capital Advisors has reportedly engaged Piper Sandler to serve as its financial advisor as it pursues a sal, with first-round bids were due on December 15.

Minority Investments

• Stamford, CT-based, employee-owned wealth manager Steward Partners raised $475M from Ares Credit funds. The transaction includes a non-controlling minority investment and an expanded lending relationship, allowing Ares to join existing institutional backers Cynosure Group and The Pritzker Organization. The firm manages nearly $50B in client assets and will use the capital to reward employee-owners and fuel its next phase of national growth.
• Merchant Investment Management staked three RIAs in December, reportedly acquiring a 20% stake in Cincinnati-area wealth manager Rosselot Financial Group, which has approximately $1.2B in assets under advisement and is affiliated with Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, and making minority investments in both $3.4B Wayne, PA-based Kathmere Capital Management and $387M Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Las Olas Capital Advisors.
• Serial RIA investor Constellation Wealth Capital acquired a minority stake in Cincinnati-based DayMark Wealth Partners, a $4.5B RIA affiliated with Dynasty Financial Partners. The transaction, which closed on December 10, was chosen by DayMark management to secure strategic growth capital while maintaining its current structure.
• Auburn, IN-based Credent Wealth Management – which has over $4B in AUM – sold a minority stake to Crestline Investors, a global alternative investment manager that officially became part of Rithm Capital after its own sale to Rithm closed on December 1.
• Summit Financial made a minority investment in $500M West Warwick, RI-based RIA Ivy Wealth Management, which is led by President Brad Ingegneri. Summit now oversees more than $25B in assets.
• Emigrant Partners-backed Dakota Wealth Management is reportedly seeking a minority investor. The Palm Beach Gardens, FL-based RIA – which has close to $7.5B in assets following recent acquisitions – is said to have engaged Evercore as its financial advisor.
• St. Petersburg, FL-based Cyndeo Wealth Partners – which is backed by Dynasty Financial Partners – is reportedly seeking a minority investor. The firm has around $2.6B in AUM and is said to have engaged Dynasty’s in-house investment bank as financial advisor.

Notable International News

• Creative Planning has reportedly agreed to acquire UK wealth manager Maseco Private Wealth, adding $4.8B in client assets. Creative Planning has around $390B in assets, which will jump to over $640B following the expected early-2026 close of its acquisition of SageView Financial.
• British money manager Schroders is exploring options, including a potential sale, for its financial planning business, Benchmark Capital, which services over 1,000 adviser clients in the mass affluent sector and held £37.1B($49.3B) in AUM as of September. The move comes as Schroders focuses its wealth strategy on more affluent clients through divisions like Cazenove.
• IK Partners’ IK X Fund has agreed to acquire French financial advisor Rhétorès Group from its founders – Stéphane Rudzinski and Grégory Soudjoukdjian – and PE firm Activa, which will also be a significan reinvestor. The firm is expected to have AUM of €2.7B ($3.15B) by the end of the year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Jersey-based wealth manager Team has agreed to acquire financial services firm WH Ireland following a failed bid by Oberson Investments for WH’s wealth management business. Subject to shareholder approval, Team expects to close the £12.7M ($16.8M) all-share deal in the first quarter of 2026. The combined firm will have over £2.1B ($2.78B) in assets under management/advice.
• UK Wealth Manager Perspective Acquires Prosser Knowles Associates
• Lancashire, England-based wealth manager Perspective – which is backed by Charlesbank Capital Partners – reportedly acquired Prosser Knowles Associates, a wealth manager with offices in Gloucester and Droitwich that has around £400M ($535M) in assets under advice.