Mergers and acquisitions in the wealth management industry set another record in 2019 for both the number of deals and assets acquired, according to Fidelity Investments and Echelon Partners.
Fidelity reports 139 transactions for the 2019, representing $781.1 billion in assets, and increases of 43% and 38%, respectively from the year before. The 139 figure includes 127 RIA and 12 IBD acquisitions.
Echelon Partners reports 203 deals in 2019 representing $285 billion, excluding mega transactions above $20 billion.
Fidelity’s total AUM figure includes several deals in excess of $20 billion AUM, which Echelon also reports apparently outside its total AUM figure: Advisor Group’s acquisition of Ladenberg Thalmann ($181.1 billion AUM), Warburg Pincus’s acquisition of Kestra Financial ($77 billion AUM, according to Fidelity; $92 billion assets under administration, according to Echelon Partners) and Hub International’s acquisition of Global Retirement Partners ($40.1 billion AUM).
Fidelity and Echelon also mentioned Goldman Sachs’ acquisition of United Capital, with an estimated $25 billion in AUM and Echelon Partners also highlighted Schwab’s acquisition of TD Ameritrade for an estimated $26 billion, which Fidelity does not include along with breakaway deals from one wire house to another, which Echelon does.