RIA Mergers and Acquisitions Visible in Form ADV (2012–2024)

83% of the successions SEC-registered advisers reported on Form ADV from 2012 through 2024 were the same firm taking over its own business, as when it changes its legal form. According to SEC filing data through December 31, 2024, advisers reported 1,571 successions in those years, about 121 a year. Only 266, about 20 a year, named a different firm as the predecessor.

That is what Form ADV can show about mergers and acquisitions among advisers, and it is less than the phrase suggests. Item 4.A asks whether the filer is succeeding to the business of a registered investment adviser, and the form's own example is a change of legal form. An adviser whose owners sell their interests, and which keeps its own registration, has no predecessor to name, so that kind of sale is not in these counts.

Successions by year

Each succession is counted once, in the year of the first filing that reports it. "Same firm" means the predecessor's name is the filer's name once legal-form words such as LLC or Inc. are set aside, or its CRD number is the filer's own; 8 same-firm successions match on the CRD number alone, a firm that also changed its name.

Year	Successions reported	Same firm	Named a differently named firm	Advisers filing	Per thousand advisers	Source
2012	132	97	35	13,261	10.0	SEC
2013	136	96	40	11,374	12.0	SEC
2014	138	116	22	11,940	11.6	SEC
2015	131	107	24	12,415	10.6	SEC
2016	137	114	23	12,724	10.8	SEC
2017	111	84	27	13,222	8.4	SEC
2018	131	120	11	13,810	9.5	SEC
2019	114	97	17	14,125	8.1	SEC
2020	101	85	16	14,592	6.9	SEC
2021	125	109	16	15,512	8.1	SEC
2022	120	107	13	16,020	7.5	SEC
2023	96	85	11	16,258	5.9	SEC
2024	99	88	11	16,709	5.9	SEC

Download this table (CSV), free. The full dataset, every succession in the filing data with both firms' CRD numbers, is one email away.

• According to SEC data, the most successions were reported in 2014, 138, and the fewest in 2023, 96.
• Same-firm successions outnumbered the rest in every year.
• The number of advisers filing grew from 13,261 in 2012 to 16,709 in 2024, according to SEC data, so successions per thousand advisers fell from 10.0 to 5.9.

The 25 largest successions that named another firm

Ranked by the regulatory assets the firm succeeded to reported on its own last Form ADV filing on or before the successor's, from SEC data. Of the 266 successions that named a differently named firm:

• 197 name a predecessor with such a filing, assets on it, and no filing of its own more than six months later; these are ranked, and 72 of those predecessors reported $1 billion or more, according to SEC data.
• 13 name a predecessor that went on filing its own Form ADV more than six months later, the largest of them Wells Fargo Clearing Services. Form ADV cannot show how much of that business the filer took over, so the predecessor's assets are not a measure of the succession, and these are left out of the ranking.
• 44 name a firm with no SEC-registered adviser filing in the data, and 12 a firm that reported no regulatory assets.

Rank	Successor	Firm succeeded to	Filed	Firm succeeded to: last regulatory assets	Successor: regulatory assets at filing	Source
1	Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Company	Daiwa SB Investments	Apr 30, 2019	$56.8 billion (Feb 18, 2019)	$150 billion	SEC
2	Northern Trust Investments	The Northern Trust Company of Connecticut	Mar 31, 2014	$36.6 billion (Dec 10, 2013)	$638 billion	SEC
3	Lansdowne Partners (UK)	Lansdowne Partners	Jul 10, 2014	$32.9 billion (May 20, 2014)	$30.6 billion	SEC
4	Allianz Global Investors U.S.	Allianz Global Investors Fund Management	Oct 7, 2016	$29.7 billion (May 31, 2016)	$74.9 billion	SEC
5	Schroders Capital Management (Switzerland) AG	Schroders Capital Management (US)	Nov 25, 2024	$23.2 billion (Aug 19, 2024)	$23.2 billion	SEC
6	Empower Advisory Group	Personal Capital Advisors Corporation	Apr 6, 2023	$23.1 billion (Mar 9, 2023)	$116 billion	SEC
7	Aberdeen Asset Managers	Aberdeen Asset Management Investment Services	Mar 28, 2012	$21.9 billion (Dec 22, 2011)	$175 billion	SEC
8	Allianz Global Investors U.S.	RCM	Apr 8, 2013	$21.2 billion (Mar 27, 2013)	$54.2 billion	SEC
9	Victory Capital Management	RS Investments	Aug 9, 2016	$17.7 billion (Mar 14, 2016)	$52.3 billion	SEC
10	Victory Capital Management	Munder Capital Management	Nov 10, 2014	$14.3 billion (Mar 27, 2014)	$35.3 billion	SEC
11	Allianz Global Investors Capital	Allianz Global Investors Managed Accounts	Jan 2, 2013	$13.7 billion (Mar 30, 2012)	$28.8 billion	SEC
12	Avantax Advisory Services	1st Global Advisors	Nov 1, 2019	$10.8 billion (Sep 26, 2019)	$23.4 billion	SEC
13	Aquiline Management Holdings	Aquiline Holdings	Nov 17, 2023	$9.6 billion (Apr 24, 2023)	$10.1 billion	SEC
14	Colony Capital Investment Advisors	Colony Capital	Apr 22, 2015	$9.4 billion (Mar 31, 2015)	$11.5 billion	SEC
15	HB Wealth Management	Homrich Berg	Oct 1, 2021	$8.9 billion (Sep 21, 2021)	$10.5 billion	SEC
16	Amundi Smith Breeden	Smith Breeden Associates	Oct 30, 2013	$7.8 billion (Mar 27, 2013)	$8.2 billion	SEC
17	Murphy Acquisition	Merganser Capital Management	Oct 21, 2013	$7.3 billion (Jul 11, 2013)	$7.4 billion	SEC
18	National Investment Services of America	National Investment Services	Jan 28, 2020	$7.2 billion (May 31, 2019)	$8.8 billion	SEC
19	Piedmont Investment Management	Piedmont Investment Advisors	Oct 17, 2018	$6.8 billion (Mar 30, 2018)	$3.8 billion	SEC
20	Advance Investment Managers	Prescient Investment Managers (Ireland)	Jun 5, 2014	$6.7 billion (Mar 28, 2013)	$3.6 billion	SEC
21	OneAmerica Asset Management	American United Life Insurance Company	Jan 11, 2013	$5.6 billion (Mar 30, 2012)	$15.6 billion	SEC
22	FIS Group	Piedmont Investment Advisors	Apr 30, 2020	$5.4 billion (Mar 26, 2020)	$8.6 billion	SEC
23	Meeder Public Funds	United American Capital	Dec 19, 2018	$5.1 billion (Mar 23, 2018)	$12.9 billion	SEC
24	Victory Capital Management	Integrity Asset Management	Nov 10, 2014	$4.8 billion (Mar 27, 2014)	$35.3 billion	SEC
25	BP Wealth Management	Banyan Partners	Oct 9, 2014	$4.6 billion (May 13, 2014)	$4.5 billion	SEC

The largest was Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Company succeeding to Daiwa SB Investments, which last reported $56.8 billion in regulatory assets, filed in April 2019, according to SEC data. Allianz Global Investors U.S. named the most differently named predecessors over the period, 7, and 14 advisers named two or more.

Since the filing data ends

The SEC's filing data runs through December 31, 2024. Its monthly file shows only each adviser's latest filing, so it catches a succession only while that filing is the newest one, and it is not a full count. 23 advisers whose latest filing in the SEC's September 1, 2026 monthly file was made after December 31, 2024 report a succession on it, according to SEC data; three of them name a differently named firm.

Adviser	Firm succeeded to	Date of succession (Item 4.B)	Same firm?	Regulatory assets	Source
Columbia Capital	Columbia Capital	09/08/2026	Yes	$13.8 billion	SEC
Harbert Fund Advisors	Harbert Fund Advisors	11/26/2025	Yes	$7.8 billion	SEC
Flexstone Partners	Glouston Capital Partners	08/31/2026	No	$7.2 billion	SEC
Greycourt & Co.	Greycourt & Co.	08/01/2026	Yes	$6.6 billion	SEC
Finaccess Advisors	Finaccess Global Wealth & Asset Management	08/21/2026	Yes	$4.1 billion	SEC
Venturi Private Wealth	The Caprock Group	07/31/2026	No	$3.6 billion	SEC
FCP	FCP	04/09/2026	Yes	$3.5 billion	SEC
Legacy Wealth Management	Legacy Wealth Management	01/01/2026	Yes	$2.7 billion	SEC
Mercer Investment Solutions	Secor Investment Management	06/01/2026	Yes	$2.2 billion	SEC
Martel Wealth Advisors	Martel Wealth Advisors	01/01/2026	Yes	$1.5 billion	SEC
Soundwatch Capital	Soundwatch Capital	04/22/2026	Yes	$1.0 billion	SEC
E & G Advisors	E & G Advisors	12/12/2025	Yes	$707 million	SEC
Pine Harbor Wealth Management	Pine Harbor Wealth Management	01/28/2025	Yes	$507 million	SEC
Accountants Proprietary Financial Servicenet	Accountants Proprietary Financial Servicenet	10/30/2025	Yes	$464 million	SEC
Smart Money Group	Smart Money Group	08/01/2026	Yes	$424 million	SEC
Radix Financial	Radix Financial	07/22/2025	Yes	$232 million	SEC
Echelons Capital	Echelons Capital	01/14/2023	Yes	$174 million	SEC
Iqvestment	Marstone	06/12/2026	No	$22 million	SEC
IVY Invest Corporation	Buena Capital Advisors D/B/A IVY Invest	12/23/2025	Yes	$13 million	SEC
Berla Investment Consulting	Berla Investment Consulting	04/20/2026	Yes	none reported	SEC
Addition Wealth	Addition Wealth	03/31/2026	Yes	none reported	SEC
Aligned Wealth Advisors	Aligned Holdings	09/25/2026	Yes	none reported	SEC
Rise Private Wealth Management	Rise Private Wealth Management	09/09/2026	Yes	none reported	SEC

What this means for technology buyers

A succession that names another firm usually means moving that firm's clients and their records onto the successor's systems, and a change of legal form can still mean new client agreements and custodian paperwork. These guides cover the systems that integration touches:

• CRM for financial services: one client record across two firms' books of business.
• Data warehouse solutions for financial services: bringing two firms' client and performance history into one place.
• Portfolio rebalancing tools for RIAs: moving acquired client portfolios onto the successor's models.
• Compliance monitoring and pre-trade clearance: bringing new advisers under one compliance program.

Planning the integration before choosing the vendor? The Wealth Management Business Capabilities Model maps what an advisory firm does, so both sides of a combination can be laid against one model.

More from Finantrix Atlas

• Fastest-growing RIAs, ranked by asset growth
• Largest registered investment advisers, ranked by assets
• RIAs by state
• US bank mergers: every deal in the past year

How this list was built

The universe is every Form ADV filing an SEC-registered adviser made in the SEC's Form ADV filing data, from its start on November 5, 2011 through December 31, 2024. A succession is a filing that answers Item 4.A yes, with the firm it names in Schedule D, Section 4: every such filing names one, and every firm named is on such a filing. Exempt reporting advisers do not answer Item 4.A, so they are not included.

An adviser that amends its Form ADV again while the answer still applies reports the same succession twice, so each pair of successor and predecessor is counted once, at its first filing. Years run from 2012, the first full year in the data. Advisers filing is the number of distinct CRD numbers with at least one filing in the year.

The SEC also publishes a monthly file of registered advisers, compiled from the same filings. Every succession in its file for the first week after December 31, 2024 is a filing in the data used here, on the same date and naming the same firm. Advisers in the newest monthly file whose latest filing is more than fifteen months old are left out of the section on recent successions, because they have missed an annual amendment; 0 were left out on that rule.

Regulatory assets are Item 5.F.(2)(c) of Form ADV Part 1A, as each firm filed it. The form itself sets out each item.

Limits

• As filed. Each succession is the filer's own answer. Those whose predecessor kept filing are counted in the yearly table as filed and left out of the ranking.
• A succession is not a deal. Form ADV does not say whether a differently named predecessor was acquired, merged or renamed in a reorganization, and it records no price.
• Acquisitions that keep a registration are not here. An adviser bought by a new owner that keeps its own registration reports the change in its ownership schedules, not as a succession.
• SEC-registered advisers only. Successions among state-registered advisers, and exempt reporting advisers, are not included.
• A same-name rule. A predecessor whose name differs from the filer's only in punctuation or a legal-form word counts as the same firm; one that changed its name in the same reorganization counts as a different one.
• Dated data. The full count runs through December 31, 2024, the end of the SEC's newest filing data release; the recent section is a partial view from the September 1, 2026 monthly file.

Cite this

Free to quote, cite and republish, including the chart, with credit to Finantrix Atlas and a link to this page.

83% of the 1,571 successions SEC-registered advisers reported on Form ADV from 2012 through 2024 were a firm succeeding to its own business, according to a Finantrix Atlas analysis of SEC data.

SEC-registered advisers reported about 20 successions a year that named a differently named firm, from 2012 through 2024, according to Finantrix Atlas.

Suggested citation: Finantrix Atlas, "RIA Mergers and Acquisitions Visible in Form ADV," filing data through December 31, 2024, from SEC Form ADV data. https://www.finantrix.com/articles/ria-mergers-acquisitions

Embed the chart:

<a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/ria-mergers-acquisitions"><img src="https://www.finantrix.com/atlas/ria-mergers-acquisitions.png" alt="Successions reported on Form ADV by SEC-registered advisers per year, from Finantrix Atlas"></a>
<p>Chart: <a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/ria-mergers-acquisitions">Finantrix Atlas</a>, from SEC Form ADV data.</p>

Frequently asked questions

Q: How many RIAs merge or are acquired each year? A: Form ADV does not count deals. It counts successions: SEC-registered advisers reported about 121 a year from 2012 through 2024, according to SEC data, and about 20 a year named a differently named firm. Sales of advisers that keep their own registration are not among them.

Q: What is a succession on Form ADV? A: Item 4.A asks whether the filer is succeeding to the business of a registered investment adviser, including a change of its structure or legal status. Schedule D, Section 4 names the firm succeeded to, and Item 4.B gives the date.

Q: Why are most successions the same firm? A: Form ADV treats a change of legal form, such as a corporation becoming a limited liability company, as a succession. 83% of successions from 2012 through 2024 named a predecessor with the filer's own name or CRD number, according to SEC data.

Q: Which adviser named the most predecessors? A: Allianz Global Investors U.S., with 7 differently named firms from 2012 through 2024, according to SEC Form ADV filing data.