How much of RIA assets does private equity own?

Private equity has acquired roughly 42% of all RIA (registered investment advisor) assets. 87 PE-backed RIAs are tracked here, and about 79% of RIA M&A is PE-driven.

PE's retail pipeline

The RIA Machine

Private equity has acquired roughly 42% of all RIA assets — owning the advisors, manufacturing the products, controlling the platforms, and moving toward 401(k)s.

42%

of RIA assets PE-owned

PE-backed RIAs tracked

$13,236B

AUM in the database

79%

of RIA M&A is PE-driven

The short answer

The same firms that originate and mark private-credit assets now own the advisors who recommend them. A PE firm manufactures the fund, a gatekeeper platform wraps it, a PE-backed RIA places it in client portfolios, and quarterly redemption gates lock the money in. The next frontier is the 401(k).

Chapter 1 — The ownership map (selected)

PE-backed RIAs — backer, AUM, deal type
RIA	PE Backer	AUM ($B)	Type
Captrust	GTCR / Carlyle	$1,000	majority
Creative Planning	TPG / General Atlantic	$640	minority
Advisor Group / Osaic	Reverence Capital	$570	take-private
Cetera Financial	Genstar Capital	$520	take-private
Focus Financial Partners	Clayton Dubilier & Rice	$400	take-private
Hightower Advisors	Thomas H. Lee Partners	$325	majority
Edelman Financial Engines	H&F / Warburg Pincus	$302	recap
Fisher Investments	Advent International	$275	minority
Mariner Wealth	Leonard Green & Partners	$97	majority
Beacon Pointe Advisors	KKR	$35	majority

Chapter 2 — The fund pipeline

Products sold through the RIA channel include BREIT ($56.7B), BCRED ($82B), Blackstone Credit & Insurance / BXCI ($295B), Athene annuities ($355B), Global Atlantic insurance ($158B), Ares Capital / ARCC ($27B), and dozens of interval funds and non-traded BDCs. The pipeline: a PE firm manufactures the fund; iCapital/CAIS wraps it; a PE-backed RIA places it in client portfolios; quarterly redemption gates lock the money in.

Chapter 3 — The fee machine

A $1M portfolio with 20% alternatives carries five fee layers — RIA advisory (75–125 bps), fund management + carry (125–200 bps), platform access (5–50 bps), placement/distribution (50–250 bps), and revenue sharing (0–100 bps) — totaling about 1.69% of the whole portfolio, or 3.45% of the alternatives sleeve. Over ten years that is roughly $169,000 extracted; the client sees "1%" on the statement.

Chapters 4–6 — Gatekeepers, the 401(k) pipeline, the connections

Gatekeeper platforms include iCapital (WestCap/BlackRock/Temasek), CAIS (Apollo/Motive), and Envestnet (Bain Capital). A regulatory timeline runs from the June 2020 DOL information letter through the Aug 2025 Trump executive order, the Jan 2026 Blackstone–Empower partnership (18.6M participants), and the Mar 2026 DOL proposed safe harbor for 15–20% PE in target-date fund glide paths. Form ADV filings analyzed for 30 firms show average private/alternative exposure around 5%, with Pathstone the outlier at 35%. The database lists 123 RIA entries. Last updated April 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How much of RIA assets does PE own?

Roughly 42%. 87 PE-backed RIAs are tracked, and about 79% of RIA M&A is PE-driven.

How many fee layers are in a PE-sold alternatives product?

Five — totaling ~1.69% of the whole portfolio (3.45% of the alternatives sleeve), or roughly $169,000 over ten years on a $1M portfolio.