nuBeam Gen
For Tom Flint / Eton Solutions
Q1 2026 Intelligence Brief
Market Assessment — Nov 2025 to Mar 13, 2026

Where the
wealth market
is moving.

A current read on consolidation, leadership change, and capital deployment across the independent wealth management market. Six firms with confirmed trigger events in the last four months — acquisitions, PE recapitalizations, serial M&A, and first international expansions — and what each event means operationally.

6
Confirmed Events
Firms with confirmed
trigger events this quarter
$B+
AUM already in motion
in Q1 2026 alone
d
Avg. platform evaluation
window post-acquisition
mo
Look-back window
covered in this brief
Each firm below had a trigger event in the last four months.
Acquisitions. New PE backers. Mergers. These are the moments when platform decisions get made — and locked in for years. The window is open right now.
Merger PE-Backed Nov 17, 2025
Matter FO + IWP Family Office
Multi-Family Office  /  St. Louis · Denver · DFW
Two $4B firms merged. Two tech stacks. 140+ UHNW families. PE backer mandating an ops review. The platform decision hasn’t been made yet.
$10B+
Combined AUM
Recapitalization 5 New Markets Oct 14, 2025
Rockefeller Capital Management
Ultra-HNWI Wealth Management
Recapped at $6.6B. Targeting Singapore, Middle East, Miami, Minneapolis, Las Vegas. New institutional investors require a level of operational visibility the current setup wasn’t built for.
$187B
AUM
New PE Backer (Ares) 3 Acquisitions in 90 Days Sep 2025 — Feb 2026
EP Wealth Advisors
RIA  /  Southwest Expansion
Ares in, Berkshire out. Three firms acquired in under 90 days. The 100-day operational review is happening right now — integration infrastructure is under pressure.
~$50B
AUM
3 Acquisitions — Q1 2026 81 Total Q1 2026 — Active
CAPTRUST Financial Advisors
RIA  /  1,900 Employees
$7B added in one quarter. 81 acquisitions total. Each brings a different legacy stack. At this pace, integration quality is the firm’s biggest operational risk.
$1T+
Client Assets
New PE Backer (Onex) $90B → $143B Late 2025 — Q1 2026
Wealth Enhancement Group
RIA  /  Minneapolis
AUM nearly doubled in 12 months. Three $1B+ acquisitions already in 2026. This is the scale inflection where existing infrastructure breaks and firms go to market.
$143B+
AUM
First International Acquisition +550 Advisors Oct 9, 2025
Creative Planning
RIA  /  Backed by TPG + General Atlantic
Added 550 advisors and went international in the same quarter. Cross-border compliance and unified reporting are live decisions — PE backers are watching.
$640B
Client Assets

The 90-day
window.

After a trigger event, every vendor relationship enters a review simultaneously. The firms above are in that window right now. After it closes, platforms lock in for 3–5 years.

Nubeam Gen tracks these signals full time. This brief is current as of March 14, 2026.

$100B+
AUM in motion in Q1 2026 alone
90d
Avg. window from trigger to platform decision
68%
Of firms post-M&A evaluate their stack within 90 days
3–5y
Avg. contract length once a decision is made

Six firms.
One conversation.

Each firm in this brief has an active infrastructure decision in motion. A 20-minute call with Tom is enough to walk through which ones are the right fit for Eton, how Nubeam Gen would position the introduction, and what getting in front of the right person at the right moment actually looks like.

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Prepared for Eton Solutions — by invitation.