LPL’s Mariner Advisor Network deal fuels already hot year for RIA M&A

In its first big acquisition since its purchase of Commonwealth Financial Network, LPL Financial is contributing to what already looks likely to be a record year for industry mergers and acquisitions.

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LPL announced this week that it and its affiliate firm Private Advisor Group are buying Mariner Advisor Network, a unit within the large RIA Mariner Wealth Advisors. The deal will bring LPL and Private Advisor Group 367 advisors and $31 billion in assets, which they will eventually split between themselves.

Judging by recent numbers from the industry-tracking firm DeVoe & Co., the deal is unlikely to be an anomaly this year. DeVoe reported this week that 93 mergers and acquisitions involving registered investment advisories occurred in the first quarter of 2026. That tied the third quarter of 2025 as the most active quarter on record.

“With RIA M&A activity up 24% year-over-year, the market is already off to its fastest start ever,” DeVoe reported.

Broker-dealers increasingly getting in on RIA M&A

That comes after 2025 set an annual record with 322 RIA M&A deals, a figure up 18% year over year. Many of those transactions were driven by large industry aggregators and consolidators that, often with the help of private-equity financing, exist largely to buy up smaller firms and make them more profitable.

But DeVoe noted in its latest report that these transactions are increasingly being driven by broker-dealers like LPL, along with banks and other sorts of financial companies. Of the 93 deals recorded in the first quarter, 23% were undertaken by this “other” group of buyers, according to DeVoe.

DeVoe said it’s “no surprise” broker-dealers and other firms are attracted to registered investment advisories. RIAs’ EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — is among the highest in the financial-services industry.

“The RIA industry offers recurring revenue models, strong organic growth potential, and attractive profitability characteristics,” according to DeVoe.

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What Mariner gains from the Mariner Advisor Network deal

Phil Waxelbaum, an advisor recruiter and the founder of Masada Consulting, said it’s easy to see what both Mariner and LPL are getting out of the sale of Mariner Advisor Network. The roots of that Mariner division are in The Financial Services Network, a firm that had 400 advisors and $26 billion in assets when Mariner bought it in 2022.

As part of that deal, LPL was retained as the custodian and brokerage firm for the former Financial Service Network advisors’ assets — even though Mariner itself was using other custodians. That arrangement is now helping to ease the purchase by LPL, since it means the advisors moving over won’t have to change custodians.

Waxelbaum said although some of those advisors found an accommodating home at Mariner, others were a poor fit for the firm, which was placing more of an emphasis on comprehensive financial planning. So why not sell the business?

LPL has not said how much it will pay for Mariner Advisor Network. But Waxelbaum said Mariner obviously wouldn’t be parting with the division if it weren’t for a profit.

“Either because of genius or good luck, the investment they had made had levered up, and it was worth more than it was that they had paid for it,” Waxelbaum said.

Mariner CEO and President Marty Bicknell said in a statement that, “This is an ideal outcome for these advisors, enabling them to broaden their relationship with LPL while maintaining stability and continuity for the clients they serve.”

Mariner Wealth Advisors was founded in 2006 in Overland Park, Kansas, and now has more than $500 billion in client assets and roughly 1,800 advisors in more  than 120 offices. It has sold minority stakes in itself to the private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners and to Neuberger Berman Capital Solutions.

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What LPL and Private Advisor Group gain

Meanwhile for LPL and its Private Advisor Group, the deal presents an opportunity to take on an already strong business — one with growth potential. Waxelbaum said some people have painted the deal as LPL simply paying for advisors that it already had relationships with.

“What LPL really had was a service-and-hold agreement with Mariner,” Waxelbaum said. “But there was a big part of the profit that was going to Mariner, not to LPL. So what LPL did is, LPL saw a growth opportunity in this.”

Marc Cohen, the group managing director and chief growth officer at LPL Financial, said in a statement that, “Together with Private Advisor Group, we’re committed to enhancing the advisors’ experiences through our continued investment in innovative technology and breadth of wealth management offerings and services.”

The Mariner Advisor Network deal comes as LPL is still working through its acquisition last year of Commonwealth Financial Network, a former rival broker-dealer that had $305 billion in assets and roughly 3,000 advisors at the time of its purchase. Commonwealth is expected to be fully incorporated into LPL by the fourth quarter of this year.

Mariner Advisor Network is expected to bring 223 advisors directly to LPL, which now has more than 32,000 advisors and $2.4 trillion in client assets. The remaining 144 advisors at Mariner Advisor Network will meanwhile become part of Private Advisor Group, a hybrid advisor-brokerage that has custodial agreements with several firms.

LPL took a minority stake last year in Private Advisor Group, a firm with $41 billion in client assets and nearly 800 advisors. Private Advisor Group, which uses LPL for custodial and brokerage services, previously sold a noncontrolling share in itself to Merchant Investment Management.