CI Financial, the Canadian asset management firm that has been buying up U.S.-based RIAs over the last several years, signed an agreement in November 2024 to sell to Mubadala Capital, an alternative asset manager owned by Mubadala Investment Co., an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund, for $3.4 billion. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of this year, will take CI private and values the company at about $8.7 billion.

Corient, CI’s U.S.-based wealth management business, will continue to operate under that brand.

“This transaction underscores two trends: the general move away from ownership in public markets by firms in the industry, and the increasing prevalence of sovereign wealth funds and other permanent capital investors as more active players in the industry,” the Echelon report said.

In September, TPG Capital, the San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced it would make a “substantial” minority investment in Creative Planning, the Peter Mallouk-led $375 billion firm.

According to the deal, TPG will join existing investor General Atlantic (which will keep its minority stake) to “provide additional resources and expertise to help Creative Planning to continue to enhance its service offerings and growth trajectory.”

Mallouk will remain onboard as president and CEO, keeping his majority stake in the company.

In June, private equity firm Advent International and a unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority said they were buying a minority stake in billionaire Ken Fisher’s Fisher Investments worth as much as $3 billion.

The transaction, in which the acquirers will invest at least $2.5 billion, values closely held Fisher at $12.75 billion. The deal is part of Ken Fisher’s estate planning, according to the company, and will let Fisher Investments continue to operate independently.

But investment bankers said the valuation does not set a new benchmark for RIAs, but given the size, scope and buyer, it marks an inflection point for the industry overall.

Echelon points to the deal as another example of a foreign sovereign wealth fund investing in the industry.

In October, Neuberger Berman Capital Solutions and funds managed by Neuberger Berman Private Markets acquired a minority stake in Mariner, a wealth management firm that advises on $551 billion in assets across its affiliates. The RIA raised $150 million in equity through the deal, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Leonard Green & Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that made a minority investment in Mariner in 2021, has retained its stake. The firm continues to be led by CEO and President Marty Bicknell, the firm’s majority shareholder.

Neuberger’s investment points to the “growing trend of institutional investors supporting large RIAs to drive growth and expand service offerings,” Echelon said.

In April 2024, the Riverside Co., a private equity firm co-headquartered in Cleveland, announced plans to acquire The Townsend Group, a provider of global real estate and real asset investment advisory services, from Aon. The deal was significant, in that Townsend advises clients with real assets in excess of $218 billion. It works with global public and private pension plans, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations

Bluerock, MLC Private Equity and Ten Capital Management also invested alongside Riverside. In conjunction with its investment, Bluerock, an institutional alternative asset manager with more than $18 billion in acquired and managed assets, entered a strategic partnership with Townsend to expand its capabilities to high-net-worth investors. 

Echelon points to Merchant Investment Management’s deal with private equity firm Sixth Street Partners as the sixth-largest of 2024. Sixth Street reportedly invested $500 million in Merchant, which takes minority, non-controlling stakes in registered investment advisors and has about $155 billion in assets across its entities. This was part of a $750 million capital raise by Merchant, according to published reports.

In June, Tim Bello, Merchant co-founder and managing partner, told WealthManagement.com the company expected to double its balance sheet. He said that once its recap is complete, the management team expects to double the community they’re currently invested in over the next two to three years.

In October, Kestra Holdings announced its recapitalization, with private equity firm Stone Point Capital returning to take a majority stake in the company. As a result, private equity firm Warburg Pincus exited its majority investment, which it made at the beginning of 2019. Oak Hill Capital, another private equity firm, retained its minority stake.

The move signals a return of Stone Point, which first took a majority interest in Kestra in 2016 when the firm spun out of NFP. When Warburg Pincus invested in 2019, Stone Point stayed on as a minority owner. Oak Hill then took over Stone Point’s minority stake in 2022.

Dynasty Financial Partners, a provider of back-office services to independent investment advisers, won backing in October from BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset Management as it looks to accelerate growth.

The minority capital raise valued Dynasty at about $800 million, according to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private details. The firm didn’t disclose the size of the deal, which also included previous investors.

In February, publicly traded LPL Financial announced its acquisition of Atria Wealth Solutions, an independent broker/dealer network with about $100 billion in assets.

As part of the acquisition, Atria will move its brokerage and advisory assets custodied under several broker/dealers onto the LPL platform. This includes two b/ds focusing on banks and credit unions (CUSO Financial Services and Sorrento Pacific Financial) and five supporting advisors (Cadaret Grant, NEXT Financial Group, SCF Securities, Western International Securities and Grove Point Financial).

Industry and equity analysts said the deal reinforces the necessity and power of scale in the wealth management industry.

Steven Chubak, an analyst at Wolfe Research, said the addition of Atria will turn LPL into a “category killer” and widen its competitive moat in the enterprise space.

Mariner announced its acquisition of AndCo, an institutional consulting firm with $90.6 billion in assets and 87 people, in February 2024.

Echelon highlights that deal in this list, but Mariner also acquired Fourth Street Performance Partners, another institutional consulting firm, at the same time. Those two deals formed the foundation for a new business dubbed Mariner Institutional. That division is focused on serving Mariner’s largest clients while also creating a pipeline of individual prospects saving for retirement.

Mariner also recently announced it has struck a deal to add $292 billion in assets under advisement and about 40 employees to its institutional practice. The RIA will acquire Cardinal Investment Advisors, an institutional investment consulting firm with offices in Chicago and St. Louis.