RIA M&A Reaches Record First Half Despite Second-Quarter Cool-Down
Registered investment advisor merger-and-acquisition activity reached a record pace during the first half of 2026, even as transaction volume moderated in the second quarter and buyers grew more cautious about valuation trends for the remainder of the year, according to DeVoe & Company’s latest Q2 RIA Deal Book.
The industry announced 167 transactions through the first six months of 2026, surpassing the previous first-half record set in 2025 by 13%. While deal activity slowed to 74 announced transactions in the second quarter from the stronger first quarter, it remained essentially unchanged from the 73 transactions recorded during the same period a year earlier.
Despite continued consolidation, buyers expect pricing discipline to persist. According to DeVoe’s latest Consolidator Survey, 82% of respondents believe RIA valuations will remain unchanged over the next six months, while the remaining 18% expect valuations to decline. Notably, none of the firms surveyed anticipate higher valuations.
The report also highlights a continued shift toward larger acquisition targets. Nearly 46% of consolidators identified firms managing between $1 billion and $5 billion in assets under management as their preferred acquisition candidates, reflecting growing demand for larger, more scalable businesses.
Consolidators regained their position as the market’s most active acquirers during the first half, accounting for 50% of all announced transactions. Meanwhile, RIAs themselves continued to play an increasingly significant role in industry consolidation, completing a record 52 acquisitions and representing 31% of total deal activity.
Larger advisory firms also continued to drive seller activity. Firms overseeing more than $5 billion in assets announced 30 transactions during the first half of the year—just six deals short of the record total achieved during all of 2025.
At the opposite end of the market, smaller RIAs continued to lose share, with firms below the industry’s largest asset tiers accounting for just 36% of announced transactions, one of the lowest levels on record.