5 recent wealth management M&A deals to watch in 2024

5 recent wealth management M&A deals to note so far in 2024

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With merger and acquisition activity strong in wealth management, a few deal strategies are worth noting in recent months.

Strategic purchases have allowed some firms to increase their reach into new regions. And others included sizable "golden parachutes" as part of the deal.

Read more about M&A stories to watch this year in our roundup.

Mariner acquires two firms, expanding capabilities and assets

Mariner Wealth Advisors secured an agreement for "a simultaneous transaction" acquiring AndCo Consulting and Fourth Street Performance Partners, which together have 100 employees and $104 billion in assets under advisement on behalf of institutional clients, Mariner said Feb. 1.

Mariner and other RIA acquirers are taking a page out of the wirehouse playbook by acquiring firms that enable them to offer the full breadth of financial services, according to John Langston, the CEO of RIA investment bank Republic Capital Group.

"The expansion of services, I believe, is the most important trend in wealth management. … I hope it's dawning on people that is where we are going as an industry," Langston recently told Financial Planning Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger. "We are working diligently to find ways to meet the same needs that clients have always had, but to do it as an advisor rather than as a purveyor of products."

Read more:

Mariner adds $104B in assets in 2-firm deal

Osaic acquires Lincoln’s wealth arms for $700M

Phoenix-based Osaic, the private equity-backed firm formerly known as Advisor Group, secured an agreement to purchase Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Lincoln Financial's wealth arms — Lincoln Financial Advisors and Lincoln Financial Securities — at a price of $700 million in "capital benefit" upon the expected close in the first half of 2024.

"Lincoln entered into an agreement with Osaic because the transaction enables Lincoln to continue to focus on growing our individual insurance solutions and workplace solutions businesses and leveraging our core strengths, including our distribution leadership and strong brand, to deliver future value for all of our stakeholders," said Lincoln spokeswoman Sarah Boxler in an email to Financial Planning.

Read more:

Inside Osaic's plans for Lincoln's wealth business after the $700M deal

After acquisition, Avantax “golden parachute” severance packages total $35M

Four former Avantax executives earned a combined total of $35.1 million in cash and equity — so-called "golden parachutes" — after Cetera Holdings acquired Avantax. The severance plan in their contracts emphasizes how mergers and acquisitions can impact compensation for the sellers.

Immediate payouts are "critical in private transactions but not the sole consideration," Brandon Kawal, principal of management consulting and transaction advisory firm Advisor Growth Strategies, said in an email to Financial Planning.

"We coach our clients to focus on linking who benefits from consideration at different times," Kawal said. "For example, founders might do well with short-term consideration based on their timelines, but the next-gen team might be more interested in long-term upside. This dynamic will define M&A moving forward. For this specific transaction, I think you see this at play. The shareholders are doing well through a share-price premium, and an executive team has an outcome. The long-term upside for clients and advisors is the combined scale of the organization."

Read more:

$35M Avantax golden parachutes highlight role of compensation in M&A

Edelman’s latest acquisition increases its national presence

In December, Edelman Financial Engines acquired Pension Plan Systems and its affiliated RIA New England Investment Consultants, adding $1.5 billion in assets under management from over 500 clients and giving California-based Edelman a presence in the Northeast.

"This is also (Edelman's) largest acquisition based on assets under management since the firm began executing its current M&A strategy in 2021," the firm said in a release.

The deal comes after other similar RIA-based Edelman acquisitions, including its purchase of Align Wealth Management in October.

Read more:

Edelman snaps up $1.5B firm, one of its largest recent deals

Captrust adds the human element to its M&A deals

Captrust purchased RIA firm Column Capital Advisors in October. However, in the lead up to the sale, another firm had seemed like the top contender for a buyer — until Column paid a visit to the Captrust headquarters.

"Every firm we acquire, we almost require that they come visit us for a day or two and spend time getting to know the organization top to bottom, getting to know the leadership," said Rush Benton of Captrust. "And that is a very important aspect of understanding what the culture is."

This acquisition was Captrust's seventh deal in 2023 and was quickly followed by its acquisition of The Normann Financial Group.

Read more:

How a home office visit sealed a $1.4B RIA deal for Captrust