Canaccord up for sale: UK wealth becomes battleground for funds
The sale of Canaccord Genuity‘s UK wealth division, valued at more than 10 times operating profit, has sparked interest from major global private equity funds. In addition to Bain Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), Centerbridge is also mentioned in the dossier, while the names of CVC and Advent had previously been circulating.
The message is clear: in UK wealth, there is competition between financial sponsors over assets now considered strategic platforms. The hypothetical valuations confirm that wealth is no longer an ancillary business, but a financial infrastructure with high industrial value. The UK market is now a pure private equity market.
Why private equity is entering wealth: a structural choice
This is not a sudden phenomenon, but an acceleration that became evident during 2025. With net interest income stabilizing and moderate economic growth, the profitability of financial intermediaries has shifted structurally towards commission-based, recurring, and predictable revenues.
In this scenario, wealth management emerges as one of the few segments capable of guaranteeing visibility on cash flows and margin resilience. For the most advanced European operators, wealth now accounts for between 25% and 40% of non-interest revenues, a share that has been growing steadily since 2022. Consistently, in 2025, over 20% of M&A transactions in European financial services involved asset and wealth management.
“Revenue diversification has become a structural element of business models,” explains Mirko Sanna, Director and Lead Analyst Financial Institutions at S&P Global Ratings, pointing out that wealth and insurance are now central to sustaining profitability in the medium term.
Private equity as a driver of consolidation: those who remain small risk being left out
European wealth management remains highly fragmented, especially outside the United Kingdom. This fragmentation creates fertile ground for buy-and-build strategies, typical of private equity. In 2025, according to aggregate market estimates, over 60% of M&A transactions in European wealth management involved the direct or indirect involvement of private equity funds.
Scale is no longer an option, but a necessary condition for sustaining rising regulatory costs, technology investments, and international growth plans.
“Wealth management is a business of scale, and the differences between operators will tend to widen,” reiterates Mirko Sanna, clarifying how M&A represents a structural, not cyclical, response to this context.
Wealth as a private market distribution platform: PE buys to control distribution
The real paradigm shift concerns the function of wealth management. For private equity, it is no longer just a matter of acquiring a consulting structure, but a distribution and capital allocation platform, increasingly integrated with private markets and private credit.
According to industry estimates, the private market already accounts for between 20% and 30% of UHNWI client portfolios, a share that is set to grow further.
“The value today lies in the ability to scale advisory platforms with recurring revenues and a loyal customer base,” notes Michael Silverstein, Partner and Head of Financial Services at Bain Capital Europe. It is no coincidence that Bain Capital, with over $215 billion in assets under management, views European wealth as a long-term industrial lever.
Evelyn Partners: the UK as a laboratory for consolidation
Canaccord is not an isolated case. At the same time, Evelyn Partners is in an advanced stage of sale. The platform manages approximately £64 billion in assets and, according to market rumors, is valued at over £2.5 billion.
Current transactions indicate that in Europe, wealth managers are trading at multiples of between 15 and 17 times EBITDA, compared to around 20 times in North America. The United Kingdom thus confirms its role as the laboratory of consolidation, where private equity and industrial buyers compete for the same assets. The benchmark for multiples is now set.
Schroders surprises: profits above expectations thanks to wealth and private markets
The case of Schroders offers concrete confirmation of the direction taken by the sector. The British group surprised the markets with profit guidance well above expectations, attributing much of the improvement to growth in the wealth management and private markets segments, which offset the weakness of more traditional asset management activities.
At a time of pressure on margins, Schroders demonstrates that the integration of asset management, alternative solutions, and distribution can become a direct driver of profitability and revenue stability.
The message is clear: the model works, and the markets reward it. When wealth is well structured and connected to the private market, it is not only defensive but also growth-oriented.
Private markets in wealth: the numbers that explain the urgency
€88 billion. This is the amount that will have flowed into Europe by mid-2025 in evergreen and semi-liquid funds, more than double the amount at the beginning of 2024. At the same time, PwC estimates that private market revenues could reach $432.2 billion by 2030, accounting for more than half of the total revenues of global asset management.
“We are seeing some of the biggest players in private capital strengthening their efficiency and operational capabilities even in more complex market environments,” notes Eric Janson, Global Private Equity and Principal Investors Leader at PwC US, highlighting how distribution has become a critical lever for value creation.
Map of Europe: where private equity buys wealth
The geography of investments is not random. In the United Kingdom, wealth management represents the core market for private equity, thanks to mature platforms, a large UHNW client base, and an easily scalable advisory ecosystem. In the Nordic countries and Switzerland, the focus is on platform companies, efficient and technologically advanced operators that serve as hubs for pan-European growth strategies.
In Germany, wealth is primarily ground for consolidation, while Italy and Spain are emerging as next targets: markets that are still fragmented, but with a growing weight of wealth in revenues and high potential for M&A. Italy is now on the radar, not on the sidelines.
The key point: whoever controls the relationship controls the allocation
At the heart of private equity’s interest in wealth management is a decisive variable: control of the customer relationship. In a context where the private market is becoming structural in large asset portfolios, overseeing wealth means influencing the allocation of capital in the long term.
“Control of the relationship with the client is increasingly central,” observes Sarah Youngwood, Global Head of Financial Services at Cd&r, explaining why wealth now represents a privileged entry point for private equity capital. From this perspective, Canaccord, Evelyn, and Schroders are not isolated episodes, but pieces of a new competitive balance that is reshaping European wealth management.
