Private capital has become the main buyer of independent wealth management firms, and the latest deal data shows that its grip is tightening even as the overall pace of sales cools.
Echelon Partners counted 120 announced RIA transactions in the second quarter of 2026, the busiest second quarter in its records. Acquirers backed by private equity made 91 of those deals, or 75.8%, the highest share Echelon has recorded. Twenty-four firms announced at least two deals in the quarter and together accounted for 62.5% of volume. Stratos Wealth Network led with 11.
The third quarter brought the first real slowdown in two years. DeVoe & Company, which defines a qualifying deal more narrowly than Echelon and so reports lower totals, counted 77 transactions, down 17% from 93 a year earlier. That ended a run of seven straight record quarters. David DeVoe, the firm's founder and chief executive, said tariffs, the Iran conflict and other shocks led some owners to hold off on a sale.
The slowdown did not reach the biggest buyers. Consolidators, the serial acquirers built around M&A, made 53% of DeVoe's deals through September, up from 45% in 2024 and 49% in 2025. Wealth Enhancement led with 16 transactions, followed by Hightower Signature Wealth with 15, Savant Wealth Management with 10, and Beacon Pointe Advisors and Corient with eight each. DeVoe's "other" buyer category, which includes private equity firms buying directly along with banks and broker-dealers, fell to 18%, its smallest share since 2014. Sponsors are increasingly putting money to work through the platforms they already own rather than buying advisory firms themselves.
September's largest deal shows how that capital now circulates. Wealth Enhancement agreed to buy RWA Wealth Partners, a Boston firm with about $22.5 billion in client assets as of June 30. It is Wealth Enhancement's largest acquisition, and it lets Summit Partners, RWA's private equity owner, exit its investment. The combined firm would oversee more than $187 billion. Terms were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Not every investor is rolling into a bigger platform. On Sept. 2, New Mountain Capital sold the non-controlling stake it took in Lincoln Investment in 2020, returning the Fort Washington, Pa., firm to the Forst family and its advisor shareholders. Lincoln reports about $63 billion in client assets. Terms were not disclosed.
Sellers are getting larger, too. DeVoe counted 41 sales of firms managing more than $5 billion through September, already more than in any previous full year and a record 17% of all deals. Echelon's median target grew 16.6% from a year earlier to $733 million.
Concentration is already visible in regulatory data. Financial ADVSR's RIA database, built from the SEC's Form ADV filings as of Sept. 1, classifies 7,789 SEC-registered wealth managers as independent, meaning not owned by a bank or public company and not a wrap-program sponsor. Together they report $9.2 trillion in regulatory assets under management.
The 237 firms with $5 billion or more, about 3% of the group, hold 56% of those assets. The 1,286 firms above $1 billion hold 79%. The median firm manages about $280 million.
Acquirers that lean on borrowed money face higher costs: the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point in September, after most third-quarter deals were already under way. DeVoe & Company president Gordon Ross said the slowdown is real but the forces behind RIA consolidation remain in place.
The two trackers diverge on the year ahead. Echelon projects about 500 transactions in 2026, which would beat 2025's 466. DeVoe would need 78 deals in the fourth quarter to match last year's record of 322; it counted 81 in the fourth quarter of each of the past two years.