MarshBerry tallies record 294 U.S. wealth advisory deals through September

MarshBerry counted 294 announced U.S. wealth advisory transactions through September 30, the highest September year-to-date total on record by its tally and a 4.6% increase from the same period in 2025. In its report, released Thursday and covered by PLANADVISER, the consulting firm suggested 2026 could become the industry's first-ever 400-deal year.

Private-equity-backed acquirers accounted for 72% of announced transactions through the third quarter, down from 74% for all of 2025, and the ten most active buyers took one-third of all announced transactions. Independent acquirers' share of announced deals rose to 21% from 20% last year.

Wealth Enhancement Group led the buyer ranking with 19 transactions, followed by Hightower Advisors with 15 and Carson Group with 12. MarshBerry reported that all ten of the most active acquirers were backed by private capital.

A separate count from DeVoe & Co. ran the other way: 77 announced RIA deals in the third quarter, down from 93 a year earlier, a 17% decline DeVoe attributed to market volatility and uncertainty that caused some advisory firm owners to postpone sales.

The two tallies are not directly comparable, because MarshBerry measured the broader wealth management market while DeVoe counted RIAs. Together they describe a market in which repeat, private-capital-backed buyers do most of the bidding for the practices that do trade.

MarshBerry said buyer demand remained particularly strong for firms with sustained organic growth, leadership depth and scalable infrastructure, and argued that transactions increasingly reflect growth ambitions rather than purely succession planning or liquidity events.

That criteria list points an owner toward the same conclusion a seller would reach from the buyer ranking: the firms drawing bids are pitched on durable revenue, which favors practices that do not depend on the founder's own client relationships.

MarshBerry's 72% figure also suggests a narrow field. An owner testing the market is likely to negotiate with a handful of repeat acquirers rather than a wide set of independent bidders, though the report does not address what that concentration does to pricing.

One limit is worth naming for anyone using this as a planning input: the tally counts announced transactions, not what buyers paid. The coverage includes no multiples or deal values, so the 294 total and the 72% private-equity share identify who is buying and how often, not the price they are paying.