RIA Buyers Predict Valuation Flatline
Consolidations in the wealth management industry a An increase that lasts for years At the end of the last half of 2026, the prices of the registered investment advisor.
According to a survey released Thursday by DVOA & Company, 82% of 40 RIA executives from boosters expect stable RIA prices, 18% expect a decrease and none expect an increase.
According to the industry’s M&A advisory and investment bank, 8% of consolidators—defined as serial acquirers with acquisition strategies central to their business models—will see a significant shift from 2025.
“The 2026 results suggest that the market is entering a new phase,” Devo analysts wrote in the report. “After four years of high valuations, buyers will continue to expand their pipelines, but expectations on prices will be more measured.”
According to DeVoe, the current buyer pool brings an unusually wide range of valuation results. Insider transactions lead the low end, strategic RIA buyers pay materially more, and PE-backed consolidations pay the highest prices when sellers hire investment banks to conduct competitive processes.
Transactions with high multiples north of 20x typically involve firms that manage tens or hundreds of assets, with exceptional growth, profitability, leadership teams and strategic attributes that most sellers don’t have, DeVoe said.
Brett Zaniewski, founder of investment bank and consultancy Dicerno Advisors, agreed that estimates are “high,” but stressed they are not low.
“Platforms are trading firmly in the low to mid-20s, so it’s clear they can’t do anything vague, so it’s not surprising to see a big increase, but the market is still very competitive,” Zanievsky wrote in an email.
He also said that evaluating how buyers use the pot as a condiment is only one piece of the deal.
“We see buyers being very flexible on the cash/equity mix, giving equity to 2nd gen and looking to make deals more favorable to sellers by increasing revenues,” he said.
According to DeVoe’s research, large RIAs remain top targets in the deal frenzy, with 46% of consolidations seeking companies between $1 billion and $5 billion under management.
“Specifically, no respondents identified companies with less than $500 million in AUM as their primary acquisition targets, highlighting how much buyer interest has shifted across the market,” the DevO Group wrote.
In addition, respondents reported an expectation gap between what they are willing to pay and what they believe RIAs expect sellers to pay.. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consolidators say the gap between what sellers expect and what buyers are willing to pay is widening, while only 9% say the gap is narrowing and 18% see little meaningful change, the survey found.
The disconnect, according to DeVoy analysts, stems from years of record transaction volume and headline speculation, which has shaped seller expectations, particularly the premium multiples private equity pays RIAs.
In the report, DeVoy reported the strongest first-half M&A deals in the RIA space at 167, up 13 percent from the 2025 bubble pace. However, second quarter activity was confirmed to have risen to 74 transactions, one more than the same period in 2025.
“Despite the slowdown in the second quarter, the core drivers of RIA M&A have not changed,” CEO David Devoe said in a statement. “Buyers still have capital to deploy, sellers still face the same growth and succession challenges, and we expect transaction activity to remain historically strong.”
Jim Gould, of CEO of Steward PartnersHe said in a recent interview that he believes there is more negotiation activity than reported by various banks and consultants because companies don’t always release it.
Despite the underreporting, others predict a strong 2026 for negotiations. M&A Advisors at Marshberry’s recent forecast The wealth management sector is on track to reach the top 400 deals by 2026, the highest since tracking began in 2020.
