RIA M&A September 2026: 24 Deals and $38.2B in Client Assets

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AdvizorPro tracked 24 RIA M&A deals in September 2026, representing $38.2 billion in client assets. Two deals made up roughly two-thirds of that total, while the rest were mostly midsize practices, with a median of about $490 million. Wealth Enhancement was the most active buyer, and California and New York led by deal count.

This roundup follows our RIA M&A August 2026 report and draws on AdvizorPro's M&A Activity data for the month.

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Two Deals Account for Two-Thirds of the Assets

This roundup follows our RIA M&A August 2026 report below and draws on AdvizorPro’s M&A Activity data for the month. Hesom Parhizkar, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at AdvizorPro, also breaks down the September data in the Wealth Solutions Report’s monthly RIA M&A trends for September.

The largest deal in September's data was MAI Capital Management's acquisition of Evoke Advisors, a Los Angeles firm with about $17.3 billion in client assets. It is nearly twice the size of the next largest deal, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors joining Arax Advisory Partners, which brought about $8.8 billion from Houston. Together the two account for roughly $26 billion of the month's $38.2 billion total.

Four more deals topped $1 billion, including CAPTRUST's addition of Stillwater Capital Advisors in Devon, Pennsylvania, with about $1.3 billion, and Allworth's purchase of Sachetta in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, with about $1.0 billion.

Wealth Enhancement Leads Buyers With Three Deals

Wealth Enhancement appeared as the acquirer three times in September's data: Wealthshield Partners in Cary, North Carolina, with about $1.3 billion, Arbor Capital Management in Anchorage, Alaska, with about $372 million, and Trippon Wealth Management Group in Houston with about $262 million. Together they total roughly $1.9 billion.

Allworth Financial followed with two deals. In addition to Sachetta, it added High Falls Advisors in Rochester, New York, with about $695 million.

Other Active Buyers Across the Country

The rest of the month's buyers each appeared once. Verdence Capital Advisors added Harvest Investment Consultants in Hunt Valley, Maryland, with about $549 million. Prime Quadrant brought in New York's Central Family Advisors with about $608 million. AlphaCore added Brave Family Advisors in Summit, New Jersey, with about $624 million, and EP Wealth Advisors added Opes Wealth Management in Menlo Park, California, with about $822 million.

Savant Wealth Management added Corning, New York's Socha Financial Group, while Waverly Advisors added Wealthplans in Frederick, Maryland, and Carson Wealth added Pinnacle Wealth Management in Roseville, California. Smaller deals rounded out the list, including Sapphire Blue Investment Partners in Fenton, Michigan, which joined Steward Partners.

What September Says About RIA Consolidation

Three patterns stand out. First, a few very large deals can dominate a month's total. Strip out the two largest and the remaining 22 deals add up to about $12 billion, with more than half of them under $500 million.

Second, buyers are building regional density. Wealth Enhancement picked up firms in the Southeast, Texas and Alaska, while Allworth added to its Northeast footprint. California led all states with five deals, followed by New York with four.

Third, the mix of deal sizes is wide, which makes disciplined screening more important for acquirers and anyone selling to them. Our guide to evaluating RIA M&A targets using data walks through the criteria that matter most, and our look at PE-backed RIAs to watch in 2026 covers several of the platforms behind this month's activity.

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August 2026 RIA M&A: Inside a $21 Billion Month Built on Small Deals

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August's RIA M&A activity totaled 28 acquired firms representing about $21.1 billion in acquired-firm assets under management and 90 financial professionals impacted, according to AdvizorPro Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Hesom Parhizkar, speaking to Wealth Solutions Report. As Parhizkar put it, acquirers "apparently utilized M&A to build local density rather than simply buy scale." Three patterns stood out in the data: fragmentation, concentration, and geographic expansion.

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Fragmentation: Small, Founder-Led Firms Drove Most of the Volume

The clearest trend in August's data is that consolidation happened one boutique firm at a time. Of the 28 acquired firms, 24 had four or fewer reps, and the median acquired firm had just two. Twenty of the 28 firms managed under $500 million, with a median reported AUM of about $382 million.

 As Parhizkar noted, these small firms "collectively account for meaningful transaction flow, suggesting succession planning, capacity constraints, and the desire for a broader operating platform remain major M&A drivers." Firms with strong transition infrastructure and a credible client-continuity story have a wide universe of small, founder-led RIAs to pursue, not just a handful of mega-deals. For firms evaluating whether a target is the right fit, our RIA M&A Playbook walks through how to use data to size up a deal before making an offer.

Several August deals fit this profile exactly. MAI Capital Management announced on August 18 that it acquired The O'Donnell Group, a Chico, California advisory practice managing roughly $492 million. Blue Trust announced on August 10 that HSC Wealth Advisors, a Forest, Virginia firm managing approximately $449 million, had joined its platform. And Modera Wealth Management expanded its New York presence by adding Aaron Lieberman, founder of Marathon Wealth Management, who brought roughly $150 million in client assets into the firm. That last one is also a reminder that not every headline move shows up as a firm to firm acquisition. Our Advisor Moves report tracks these individual advisor transitions and is always updated with the latest month's data.

Concentration: Six Deals Accounted for Most of the Dollar Volume

Even though the typical acquired firm was small, a short list of transactions accounts for an outsized share of the month's total. Six deals alone represent about $14.5 billion, or roughly 69 percent of August's reported AUM.

Coastal Bridge Advisors' three way combination with Waddell & Associates and One Charles Private Wealth alone brought it roughly $3.47 billion, while Mercer Global Advisors recorded two deals (Charter Oak plus a smaller California addition) totaling around $1.68 billion. The market's structure is barbelled: frequent small succession tuck-ins coexist with occasional billion-dollar combinations from serial acquirers, many of them backed by private equity capital looking to deploy at scale.

Expansion: Acquirers Built Regional Density

August's transactions spanned 16 states, and several acquirers used M&A to deepen specific regional footholds rather than simply add AUM wherever it appeared.

In New England, Mercer Global Advisors added Charter Oak Capital Management in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, F.L. Putnam Investment Management added Seascape Capital Management in the same city, and Coastal Bridge Advisors combined with One Charles Private Wealth in Hingham, Massachusetts. In Florida, Modern Wealth Management added both LWM Advisory Services in Plantation and American Asset Management in Boca Raton, while Parallel Advisors acquired Eaton Financial Group in Coral Springs. On the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, Cerity Partners expanded through Cordant Wealth Partners in Portland, Pinnacle Wealth Advisors acquired IMS Capital Management in Clackamas, Oregon, Wealth Enhancement Group added Palouse Capital Management in Spokane, Washington, and Mercer Global Advisors added Eagleson Arndt Financial Advisors in Thousand Oaks, California. And in the Midwest, Focus Partners Wealth acquired Evernest Financial Advisors in Carmel, Indiana, Allworth Financial added Holistic Financial Partners in Indianapolis, Corient added Capital Advisors in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Wealth Enhancement Group announced on August 4 that it had acquired Miramar Capital, an independent RIA in Northbrook, Illinois managing more than $550 million.

Florida and Oregon each had three reported transactions in August, while California had four. As Parhizkar noted, acquirers increasingly need to communicate that the goal isn't simply accumulating AUM, but building stronger local client service, preserving advisor relationships, and adding market specific talent.

August's dataset reflects many small, succession driven acquisitions supplying steady deal volume, alongside a handful of billion dollar transactions reshaping competitive positioning. The firms best positioned to stand out are the ones that can point to both a repeatable small-firm integration model and a thoughtful strategy for targeted regional expansion.

About AdvizorPro

AdvizorPro is the advisor intelligence platform built for asset managers, ETF issuers, wealthtechs, and distribution teams that need to identify, prioritize, and engage financial advisors. With verified data across 750,000+ RIAs, family offices, and broker-dealers, combined with AI-powered lead scoring, TrafficIQ visitor intelligence, native CRM integrations, and now direct connectivity to Claude and ChatGPT, AdvizorPro powers the go-to-market strategies of leading firms across the wealth management ecosystem.

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