Wealth management firms start off 2024 with M&A bang

A January wave of consolidation sees $32 billion in assets purchased across 23 deals, Fidelity reports.

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 assets from Fourth Street Performance Partners.

Strategic acquirers represented the lion’s share of consolidations, Fidelity reported, accounting for three-quarters (73 percent) of activity during the month.

January also saw a handful of new entrants, with four firms entering the fray with first-time acquisitions.

The influence of private equity on the wealth management space was clear and present, Fidelity said, as it drove all the consolidation activity among wealth firms for the first month of 2024.