Wealth management firms start off 2024 with M&A bang
The momentum of consolidation across the wealth management industry showed no signs of ebbing coming into 2024, according to a new report from Fidelity.
In its latest M&A transaction report, Fidelity Investments reported that during the month of January, the industry saw 22 RIA deals with a total of $31 billion in assets purchased.
In comparison, activity in the broker-dealer channel was decidedly muted, with only one deal that saw $1 billion move from Excel Securities to Arax Investment Partners in Rochester, New York.
“2024 has opened the year with the median transaction size of $733M, compared to January 2023’s median of $588M,” according to the report.
According to Fidelity, the fast and furious activity in the RIA market in January represents a two-deal acceleration over the previous month. It also shows a near-tripling in asset movements compared to December, though that’s excluding a mega deal between Aon and NFP, which Fidelity said included the purchase of a $75 billion book managed by NFP Advisor Services.
Compared to the year-prior period, January 2024 had two fewer transactions, though purchased assets were ahead by 35%. Transactions below $1 billion represented two-thirds (64 percent) of activity during the month.
Meanwhile, deals of $1 billion or more made up four-fifths (79 percent) of purchased assets in January.
That included a strategic acquisition that saw $7.3 billion of assets managed by Kovitz Management Team go to Focus Financial Partners. On the heels of that, Focus announced its first acquisition of an alts investments manager via a merger between Kovitz Investment Management and Origin, a private real estate fund manager.
In another sizable deal, Mariner Wealth Advisors saw $4.5 billion in new
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