After spending April and May without any real movement, RIA M&A activity was back and looking good during the month of June.
There were 14 RIA deals with a total of $20.6 billion in assets according to a report from Fidelity, as well as the Orion Advisor Solutions’ purchase of Brinker Capital, with $24.5 billion in assets under management. That’s more than double the seven deals that took place over the previous two months.
If you exclude the Orion Advisor deal, the 14 transactions in June averaged $1.5 billion in AUM each. The 14 transactions in June as well as the the Orion purchase “ are further evidence that the fast-paced M&A market, in uenced heavily by strategic and serial acquirers, will return,” stated Fidelity in their report. “Aided by a low interest rate environment, M&A’s swift revival highlights the ubiquitous nature of its driving forces: substantial private capital, succession pressure, and the demand for improved platforms, scale, and talent.”
Scott Slater vice president of practice management and consulting at Fidelity told Think Advisor, “The market came back more rapidly than many had anticipated.” Adding, “There are still a lot of motivated buyers with lots of capital and low rates and firms looking for succession [arrangements] … and for platforms that can help them be more efficient and help them to scale operations.”
June’s momentum pushed straight into July. The beginning of the month was marked by three acquisitions, Mercer Advisors purchase of MJ Smith and Associates and ClearRock Capital with, and Eaton Vance Investment Counsel acquisition of WaterOak Advisors with $2.2 billion in AUM.
While buyers overall seem to be more careful, the most dominant buyers in the second quarter based on the number of deals was Creative Planning, which made acquisitions, said Fidelity. There wasn’t a single deal in either April nor May that involved $1 billion AUM. However there were four in June: Captrust Financial Advisors and Lakeside Wealth Management, $1.628 billion; Cresset Asset Management and PagnatoKarp, $2.3 billion; Dynasty Financial Partners and Cyndeo Wealth Partners, $1.2 billion; and Great-West Lifeco U.S./Empower Retirement and Personal Capital, $12.240 billion.
