Searching for new owners last summer, Laurentian Bank finally found a buyer for its retail brokerage services, which iA Financial Group acquired on Thursday.
The insurance and wealth management group, among Canada's largest, announced at the end of Thursday that it had reached an agreement to transfer 16,000 client accounts from Laurentian Bank to its subsidiary iA Gestion Privée Heritage Inc. (Positive).
Retail brokerage services of Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. Represents assets under management of more than $2 billion.
Once the deal is completed, approximately thirty consultants will be invited to join iAGPP, the company specifies in a press release.
“This acquisition will support iA Private Wealth Management’s strong growth and expand its footprint,” said Stephane Bourbonnais, Executive Vice President of Wealth Management at iA Financial Group and President and CEO of iAGPP. We look forward to welcoming these new advisors and helping them continue to secure their clients’ financial futures with confidence. »
The deal, the value of which was not disclosed on Thursday, is scheduled to close this summer, depending, among other things, on obtaining the required regulatory approvals. It will only have a “marginal” impact on its solvency ratio, as determined by iA Financial Group.
Strategic review
The country's seventh-largest bank by assets, Laurentian It announced last summer that it was studying its “strategic options,” while sources close to the matter confirmed that one of the methods being considered was selling.
Laurentian received buyout offers as part of this review, including at least one offer for the entire bank. However, the value of the offers received was not considered beneficial to shareholders.
Then, in September, the bank's management announced that it had completed the strategic review process and judged that the best way forward to maximize value for its shareholders was to accelerate the development of its strategic plan.
iA Financial Group, also known as Industrial Alliance, is a group of insurance and wealth management companies among the largest in Canada. It also carries out activities in the United States. Founded in 1892, the company is one of the largest public companies in the country.
Notably, it operates a network of more than 460 teams of independent investment advisors with $50 billion in assets under management.
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