Kurt MacAlpine, the CEO of CI Financial, in downtown Toronto on Dec. 20, 2019.Tijana Martin/Supplied
CI Financial Corp. (CIX-T) is doubling the size of its U.S. business with its latest purchase of Segall Bryant and Hamill LLC, a Chicago-based high-net-worth investment advisory business with US$23-billion in assets.
CI, which has about $208-billion in assets under management, announced on Monday it has agreed to acquire Segall Bryant and Hamill, a registered investment adviser (RIA) and institutional asset manager, for an undisclosed amount.
The deal is CI’s 14th RIA acquisition in the past 12 months and will double the company’s total U.S.-based assets to US$46.1-billion.
Last November, the investment giant further expanded its U.S. presence after it received regulatory approval to join the New York Stock Exchange to list its common shares.
While the listing did not prompt the current deal to take place (it was already in discussions prior to the listing), CI Financial chief executive Kurt MacAlpine said in an interview that it did help the company to restructure some of its debt through the U.S. bond market and bring on new U.S. investors. Mr. MacAlpine said the company retired some shorter duration bonds (such as ones maturing in 2021 and 2023) and swapped them for 2030 bonds.
“As we continue to diversify our business in the U.S., the NYSE listing helped us align our investor base a bit more with how the business is evolving strategically,” he said.
The latest acquisition is the first of “many more to come” in 2021, added Mr. MacAlpine, who said “the next 14 deals will be easier than the first 14″ as the company becomes a household name among the RIA investment industry.
While pricing details of last year’s 13 transactions have not been released, CI Financial documents show the company spent $306-million to buy the first four RIA businesses that closed before September. CI could pay an additional $90-million for those firms if they hit certain financial targets.
In the most recent deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, Segall Bryant and Hamill will retain its 122 employees – including its senior executive team – and continue to serve wealth management and institutional clients from offices in Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Mo., and Naples, Fla.
Philip Hildebrandt, CEO of Segall Bryant and Hamill, said the two companies are “like-minded” organizations and CI will provide “the capital resources of a large, global investment firm.”
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Clare O’Hara