Another custodian says it’s seeing bigger RIAs getting bought, although the deals are fewer in number than a year ago. Pershing Advisor Solutions and its research partner, FA Insight, said there were eight transactions in the third quarter with total assets of nearly $16 billion. More than half the deals involved RIAs with more than $1 billion in assets, Pershing said in its quarterly report, “Real Deals;” median AUM was $1.35 billion.
In comparison, seven deals were done in the second quarter, and 13 in the third quarter of 2010. Median AUM in the second quarter was $800 million. Schwab Advisor Services saw a similar trend of larger RIAs getting bought last quarter as well. Private equity companies and RIA aggregators had a big presence in the third-quarter market, Pershing noted.