The top 20 registered investment advisor acquirers are accounting for a smaller share of the total M&A market as complex transactions and new entrants erode their dominance, according to Fidelity Investments’ most recent RIA deals report.
The report, which tracks publicly available deal data on a quarterly basis, noted that the largest 20 acquirers accounted for 57% of deals in 2025, down from 61% in 2024. The Boston-based financial services giant wrote that many of the most active acquirers have reduced deal volume as they digest large or complex transactions.
“Following periods of high-volume or high-complexity acquisitions, many strategic buyers naturally shift inward, focusing on talent integration, operational alignment, and financial optimization,” the authors wrote.
Those shifts in deal volume were also evident in the composition of the most active buyers, with six firms exiting the top 20 in 2025, replaced by other acquirers.
“These exits were influenced by recapitalizations, complex or international transactions, and leadership changes,” the authors wrote.
In addition, Fidelity found the influence of the largest roll-ups waning as additional buyers enter the space.
In 2025, the RIA market saw a record number of buyers at 102, outpacing 87 in 2023 and 82 in 2024. The buyer cohort included strategics, banks, broker/dealers, private equity firms and investment consultancies, according to Fidelity.
Even so, the top 20 acquirers still accounted for the majority of advisor deals (57%) and purchased assets (55%).
They are also all backed by private equity, which is not a new trend, but a shifting one as more PE firms are now holding stakes in more than one RIA.
“For the first time, nine PE sponsors appear more than once in this cohort,” Fidelity wrote. “This marks an increase from 2024, when only six PE firms backed multiple acquirers in the cohort.”
As with many other annual dealmaking reports, Fidelity counted 2025 as a record for M&A activity, with 276 completed transactions totaling $796.4 billion. When including independent broker/dealers, the count rose to 281 deals totaling $1.11 trillion in client assets.
In a separate deals report released in late January, investment bank and consultancy Marshberry tallied 374 total wealth advisory M&A transactions in 2025, representing 46 more deals than in 2024. The firm, owned by Lincoln International, noted that the gap was likely to be even wider when accounting for deals finalized in 2025 but announced only in 2026.
Marshberry noted one key driver of the deal flow being the aging demographic of RIA owners, with many in their late 50s and early 60s who “lack viable succession plans, which shortens the window for their firms to be viewed as growth investments, diminishing their value over time, just like the intrinsic value of an option.”
Another factor the Ohio-based firm cited was the “rising trend of firms pursuing strategic partnerships for growth.”
“For these firms, partnering can be an effective way to sustain momentum, maximize leverage, reduce risk, and compound long-term value while market conditions remain favorable,” the authors wrote.
According to the Fidelity team, many deals are being done for scale, with firms “evolving into more sophisticated organizations as leaders recognize the imperative to ‘fish in bigger ponds in order to compete at scale.’”
RIAs are also using acquisitions to add adjacent services such as tax planning, CPA capabilities and ultra-high-net-worth services.
“RIAs are shifting from a narrow focus on AUM acquisition to a more strategic view of M&A as a tool for expanding and diversifying their service models,” Fidelity wrote.
