Heading into 2023, the general consensus amongst industry insiders was that merger & acquisition (M&A) activity in the wealth and retirement space would wane, perhaps dramatically, on the heels of back-to-back record deal volume in 2021 (with 272 transactions) and 2022 (with 292 transactions). MarshBerry was more cautiously optimistic in its outlook, anticipating that M&A activity would likely normalize relative to historical trends (pre-2022 and 4Q21). The impact of the higher cost of capital, and access to debt financing, continued to be partly offset by private equity demand and aging advisors seeking exits resulting in healthy M&A activity in the aggregate. That said, there is a shake-up in the leader board with several of the historically more active acquirers taking a back seat to firms with stronger balance sheets and those focused on integration.
Through May, it seemed as though this year would keep pace with 2022. But with only 20 deals closed in June compared to a record high of 33 in June of 2022, this thesis shifted. In the end, the second quarter deal count closed out at 61 transactions – the lowest quarterly deal volume since Q2 2021.
The first half of 2023 ended with 136 announced transactions, down 11.1% compared to the same time last year. However, month-to-month deal activity this year has never been more consistent with monthly volume of transactions ranging from 20 to 27, compared to 15 to 33 last year. Acquirers appear to be responding to the macro market shifts in a rational way, continuing to acquire on a steady and consistent basis.
Download the full report to gain insight into:
- The buyer leaderboard
- Private equity buyer activity
- Retirement industry M&A & top buyers
- Insurance brokerage interest in wealth advisory and retirement
- Second half 2023 outlook
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Disclosure: All deal count metrics are inclusive of completed deals with U.S. targets only. Scorecard year-to-date totals may change from month to month should an acquirer notify MarshBerry or the public of a prior acquisition. 2022 statistics are preliminary and may change in future publications. Please feel free to send any announcements to M&A@MarshBerry.com.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, http://www.insurancejournal.com, http://www.businessinsurance.com/ and other publicly available sources.
