While aspects of RIA dealmaking have shifted due to the 2022 bear market, the general dynamics driving M&A remain in place, according to experts who discussed the topic on Tuesday afternoon.
In a virtual panel, Fidelity Institutional vice president Scott Slater spoke with Republic Capital Group partner Peter Nesvold, Robertson Stephens chief executive Raj Bhattacharyya, and industry luminary Mark Tibergien about their observations and predictions for the RIA M&A environment should market volatility persist.
Tibergien (pictured) said that certain buyers have already become visibly overleveraged, with debt forcing some to stop making deals altogether. The next logical step, he believes, is that RIA aggregators will begin acquiring one another.
‘The market has camouflaged a lot of sins over the years that are now being revealed,’ the former CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions said. He added that ‘the opportunity is sizable for consolidation among large firms.’
Nesvold concurred that there is a...