Canada Life announces plan to acquire local investment firm

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This article was published 14/06/2023 (866 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada Life announced its plan to acquire a local investment firm Tuesday, furthering its goal of expanding in the wealth management sector.

The international company, which offers insurance and healthcare benefits, has headquarters in Winnipeg. It plans to acquire Value Partners Group, a Winnipeg-based investment firm with $4.1 billion in assets under management.

The news comes just two months after Canada Life’s $575 million acquisition of Investment Planning Counsel, a wealth management firm from sister company IGM Financial.

The Value Partners transaction is expected to close by year end. Once it does, Canada Life’s assets under management will reach $89 billion.

“We’ve been looking at Value Partners for some time,” said Hugh Moncrieff, Canada Life’s executive vice-president of advisory network and industry affairs. “It’s… a very fast-growing company.

“We think that by aligning it with our Canada Life platform, we can accelerate it even further.”

Value Partners began in 2005 and has been recognized as one of Canada’s fastest-growing investment firms for five years in a row — from 2015 through 2020 — by Profit Magazine.

The average private client with a Value Partners account has a net worth of $1.3 million. The company has around 17,000 clients and 29,000 accounts across Canada.

“This is all about the quality of their company, quality of their management team,” Moncrieff said. “We’re going to invest in the company to grow it.”

Canada Life would not disclose how much it’s spending on the Value Partners acquisition, but Fabrice Morin, the company’s executive vice-president of individual wealth and insurance solutions, hinted it was less than the Investment Planning Counsel deal.

IPC had about $31 billion in assets under management, more than seven times that of Value Partners.

“I don’t want to minimize the importance of Value Partners. Value Partners really brings us… more capabilities,” Morin said.

The proposed acquisition will not lead to job losses, Morin and Moncrieff stated.

Canada Life is paying for the acquisition using existing funds. Value Partners will operate independently before Canada Life brings the platforms closer together concerning technology and support for advisors and clients, Moncrieff said.

“(We) didn’t have to get together. We chose to get together because we believe the two businesses are stronger together,” said Gregg Filmon, president of Value Partners.

Value Partners brings energy, innovation and high net worth clients. Canada Life offers new products and 4,000 advisors to introduce clients to Value Partners, among other things, Filmon said.

He called it a “really positive” deal for the city, having two Winnipeg-based businesses connect.

“(Canada Life wants) to be the best wealth management company in Canada — they’re in it for the long haul,” he added.

Value Partners will continue to focus on growing its high-net-worth client base. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Canada Life doesn’t expect the purchase will have a material impact on its financial position.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com