Creative to Acquire $4.3T Institutional Consulting Firm RVK
Creative Planning, the Overland Park, Kan.-based registered investment advisor with $780 billion in assets under management, has agreed to acquire an institutional consulting and investment research firm overseeing $4.3 trillion in assets for public and private retirement plans, endowments, foundations and insurance companies.
The transaction is expected to close in January 2027.
According to an announcement, Creative Planning is set to acquire Portland, Ore.-based RVK Inc., a 40-year-old consultant with 200 institutional clients.
RVK will continue to be led by its current management team, according to the announcement. The firm’s services include investment policy development, asset allocation, investment manager research and selection, performance measurement, operational diligence and governance consulting.
“RVK has built an exceptional reputation by providing thoughtful, objective advice to some of the country’s most complex institutional investors,” Creative Planning CEO Peter Mallouk said in a statement. “Its deep consulting expertise, rigorous investment research and commitment to putting clients first align closely with how we operate at Creative Planning. Together, we’ll be able to bring even greater scale, resources and insight to institutions navigating increasingly complex investment and governance decisions.”
If the move goes through, it will add to Creative Planning’s retirement institutional businesses, including its acquisition of SageView Advisory Group last year, a $250 billion RIA with a heavy focus on employer-sponsored retirement plans.
“RVK’s dedicated research and institutional consulting teams will add significant depth to Creative Planning’s ability to support organizations across investment strategy, fiduciary governance and portfolio oversight,” Creative Planning wrote in the announcement.
Creative Planning will also join other large RIAs in offering institutional-level services and investment research, along with creating a pipeline to those clients.
Competitor RIA Mariner, which is also based in Overland Park, Kan., started an institutional division in 2024 and has continued to grow it through acquisition.
In 2025, under then-CEO Bob Oros, hybrid RIA Hightower took a majority stake in NEPC, an institutional consulting firm and outsourced chief investment officer, which was followed the next year by RIA Cresset, which added Monticello Associates, an institutional consulting firm with $124 billion in assets under advisement. Earlier this year, Cerity Partners announced it was adding $1.2 trillion institutional consultancy Verus Investments.
In addition to managing institutional assets, RIAs are seeking ways to both land upper-high-net-worth clients and find channels for organic growth. According to research released Tuesday by Oliver Wyman, a Marsh business, and Morgan Stanley, markets accounted for 62% of growth for wealth managers globally in 2025, with just 34% coming from clients.
Goldman Sachs is advising Creative Planning on the RVK deal.
Citywire first reported the news.
