With 125 transactions in the third quarter of 2025, wealth management mergers and acquisitions matched the quarterly record level set in the 2024 fourth quarter, Echelon Partners reported Monday.
Year-to-date activity as of Sept. 30 totaled 345 transactions, a 44.4% increase compared with the first three quarters of 2024. This figure already surpasses the full-year deal volume record of 341 transactions set in 2022.
Total transacted assets under management reached $1.2 trillion in the July-to-September period, up from $828 billion in the second quarter, and an increase of 44.9%.
Echelon’s research indicated that strategic acquirers boosted their share of total deal volume to 91.2% in the third quarter. So far this year, Merit Financial Advisors and Carson Wealth are the top acquirers with 14 transactions each. Wealth Enhancement Group, Mariner Wealth and Mercer Advisors have 10 transactions apiece.
Private equity investors announced 11 direct transactions, down one from the second quarter. Year to date, they have completed 34 direct investments, up from 33 for the same period last year.
Through September, private equity-sponsored investments totaled 231 transactions, well ahead of the previous record of 215 transactions set in 2024.
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