The Top 10 RIA Deals of 2015

3. TA Associates Takes Majority Stake in NorthStar

In February, NorthStar Financial Services Group, parent company to CLS Investments, sold a majority stake in the company to private equity firm TA Associates. CLS, the RIA, manages some $6.5 billion.

The deal will provide NorthStar and its subsidiaries with the capital needed to do its own acquisitions. CLS Investments is interested in acquiring other ETF strategists as well as practice management companies, such as those that create financial planning software or analytics and research on portfolios and strategists, said Todd Clarke, CEO of CLS.

4. First Republic’s Purchase of Constellation Wealth Advisors

First Republic Bank announced plans in June to buy Constellation Wealth Advisors, an independent multi-family office firm with $6.1 billion in assets, for $115 million in cash. This was First Republic’s first major acquisition in the wealth management space since the firm scooped up Luminous Capital for $125 million in November 2012.

Advisors and industry bigwigs alike were stunned when First Republic bought Luminous, which at the time had $5.5 billion in assets, as the price seemed to set a high bar for valuations of wealth management firms and started a rush of speculation that the headline-grabbing transaction would spur similar deals.

In the Constellation deal, First Republic is paying $10 million less for a firm with $600 million more in assets.

5. Genstar Acquires Mercer Advisors