RIA Valuation Insights

February 17, 2023 Current Events Industry Trends Wealth Management

As Deal Momentum Slows, What’s Next for Wealth Management Consolidation?

Early last year, as market conditions began to deteriorate, we (along with many others) predicted a coming slowdown in RIA M&A activity. Despite this environment, we were initially proven wrong: RIA M&A activity seemingly defied gravity as the pace of deal activity continued to keep pace with record 2021 levels. Now, the data suggests that deal activity is beginning to lose momentum. So, is the slowdown here to stay?  What does this mean for the future of deal activity?  In this week’s post, we discuss a few predictions for the year ahead.

February 10, 2023 Asset Management Current Events Industry Trends

Investment Management Is a People Business

Who’s in the Driver’s Seat?

Investment management is a people business, and there are aspects to a people business which do not yield to financial modeling. This week, Matt Crow addresses industry conundrums for which there are no easy answers.

February 3, 2023 Asset Management Margins and Compensation Practice Management

Whitepaper Release: Compensation Structures for Investment Management Firms

For this week’s post we’re introducing our whitepaper on compensation structures for investment management firms. This whitepaper is designed to help you navigate the various compensation models to optimize firm growth and employee retention.

January 26, 2023 Current Events Margins and Compensation Practice Management

What Does the FTC’s Proposed Non-Compete Ban Mean for RIAs?

Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed ban on non-compete agreements in employment contracts.  If enacted, the proposed ban would prohibit a common provision of employment agreements that employers use to limit employees’ ability to compete.  

January 20, 2023 Industry Trends Wealth Management

Wealth Management in Turbulent Times

Navigating the Challenges Ahead

2022 proved to be a challenging year for the stock market as a whole and the RIA industry.  With persistent inflation, rising interest rates, a tight labor market, and heightened geopolitical tensions, it’s no surprise that this resulted in the decline of nearly all stock market sectors over the last year, which was especially true for the RIA industry. But with the prospect of a potential recession in 2023, the worst may still be ahead. 

January 13, 2023 Industry Trends Transactions

RIA M&A Update

RIA M&A activity set new records in 2022, even as macro headwinds for the industry emerged throughout the year. However, deal volume was most significant in the first half of 2022 and began to cool in the second half of the year, particularly in the fourth quarter. Although transaction volume is still up over the prior year, there has been a decline in the size of these transactions.

January 6, 2023 Industry Trends

The Eye of the Storm

RIAs Outperform the S&P 500 in Q4 2022

The RIA industry saw a strong fourth quarter rally, driving most categories of publicly traded investment managers to outperform the S&P in the last quarter of the year. Alternative asset managers, however, declined from their early-November peak to perform in line with the S&P during this period. In our blog this week, we take a look at the performance of the RIA industry by sector and AUM in the fourth quarter of 2022.

December 15, 2022 Industry Trends

‘Twas the Blog Before Christmas…

The 2022 Mercer Capital RIA Holiday Poem

It has become a tradition for the RIA team at Mercer Capital to end the blog year with a “unique” annual summary of industry events, riffing off Clement Clark Moore’s classic “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”  We hope all of you in the investment management community are enjoying the holiday season and looking forward to the many opportunities of the new year.  We look forward to hearing from you in 2023.  For now, please enjoy the finest only holiday poem written about money management.

December 9, 2022 Industry Trends

Shifting Gears to 2023: Six Trend Changes for RIAs

Don’t Let Your Clutch Slip!

As the RIA team at Mercer Capital looks back on 2022 and ahead to next year, we’ve noticed a few themes emerge in discussions with clients that we expect to hear more about in the new year.  Don’t think of these as predictions but simply the current state of market behavior—the implications of which will soon be evident.

December 5, 2022 Asset Management Industry Trends

Westwood Looks to Replace Lost AUM and Revenue with Salient Partners Acquisition

Two weeks ago, Westwood Holdings Group completed its acquisition of Salient Partners’ asset management business. The deal is expected to add $4 billion in AUM and $31 million in annual revenue to WHG, pricing the total consideration at 1.5% of AUM and just under 2x revenue. Masking losses through acquisitions is typically a risky proposition, but this may be an instance where it actually makes sense.