Advisory firm dealmaking in the US shatters records
Sellers confident in a buyer’s long-term trajectory are often rolling part of their proceeds into equity of the acquiring firm, a structure many buyers now require outright, as it can align incentives, support continuity and let sellers share in future gains.
Financings, minority stakes and recapitalizations also remained a meaningful part of the market, with 31 such transactions recorded in the first half, including seven involving platforms managing more than $10 billion. Berkshire frames this as a sign the consolidation cycle itself is maturing, as firms once backed by middle-market sponsors graduate into larger platforms weighing institutional capital, bigger sponsors or strategic mergers of their own.
Deal drivers
Berkshire pointed to four structural forces sustaining the pace of consolidation rather than any single short-term catalyst: an aging population of advisory firm founders increasingly facing succession decisions, valuations high enough to make internal ownership transitions difficult to finance, client demand for broader, more coordinated services backed by better technology, and the rising cost of compliance, cybersecurity and general operations that continues to reward scale.
Looking ahead, Berkshire expects dealmaking to moderate somewhat from its record-setting start to the year but sees little chance of a meaningful slowdown given how embedded these pressures have become.
Large platforms are expected to keep pursuing scale, smaller tuck-ins should remain a steady source of deal flow, and a growing number of independent RIAs are building acquisition strategies of their own, adding further demand for capital through recapitalization activity. Consolidation, the report concludes, has shifted from being a cyclical feature of the market to a structural part of how wealth management firms plan for growth, succession and competitiveness.
