3.6Industry

Wealth & Investment Management

Investment advisors, RIAs, private equity firms, hedge funds, and trust companies managing and growing assets for institutional and private clients.

9
Segments
38
Verticals

Overview

Wealth & Investment Management spans the firms that advise on and manage capital — registered investment advisors, securities brokerage and trading, private equity and venture capital, hedge funds, traditional asset management, retirement and pension management, trust and estate services, family offices, and alternatives-distribution platforms. It runs on recurring, asset-based fees.

The RIA wealth-management space is one of the most actively consolidated markets in finance, while alternative-asset managers (PE, credit, hedge) have scaled enormously. Fee compression in traditional asset management, the democratization of alternatives, and the relentless RIA roll-up are the defining dynamics.

Market snapshot

Market size
~$793B
Growth
~5.9%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~114,000
FragmentationFragmented

U.S. Census Bureau 2022 CBP/Economic Census across advisory (523940), brokerage (523150/160/210), PE/VC (523910), hedge funds (523999), and trust (523991/525920). Revenue is management/advisory/brokerage fees; pension funds and investment vehicles are not measured by receipts.

Business model & economics

Revenue model
Asset-based management and advisory fees, plus performance fees
Recurring revenue
High — recurring AUM-based fees
EBITDA margin
Strong — scalable fee-based asset-management economics
Capex intensity
Low
  • Recurring, asset-based fee economics.
  • RIA roll-up is the marquee wealth-management M&A.
  • Fee compression and alternatives democratization reshaping the field.

M&A deal context

High deal activity

Who’s acquiring

RIA & wealth-management consolidatorsAlternative-asset managersPE-backed platforms

What’s driving deals

  • Relentless RIA consolidation.
  • Scaling of alternative-asset managers.
  • Fee compression driving scale and consolidation.

Segment classifications

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