Has a spurned, Prodigal Son split from the eponymous Canadian independent firm?
The news came in a short press release distributed September 4th, 2014: Jonathan Goodman, son of the firm’s founder was stepping down from the board of directors and resigning his positions as CEO of Dundee Capital Markets.
According to the press release, “I am a significant shareholder in the company and I fully support management on its new initiatives which have afforded me the opportunity to pursue opportunities outside the company.” So everything is fine according to the son. Investors in Goodman stock need not worry.
But is there a deeper story here?
Dundee has long been the picture of a successful Canadian independent finance organization. The company is one of the major independents in this country. The firm, founded by patriarch, Ned Goodman, has long helped many mining and resource firms. The Goodman trail of companies is extensive. In 2011 the mutual fund company the family-firm founded and created was sold for over $2 billion to Scotia in 2011. The Goodman family is one of the most respected business families in the country.
Since the sale of Dynamic the Goodman family has been gone on to other things. There are investments in organic beef. A massive real estate portfolio was sold off in 2013. But business has been a bit dodgy. The valuations of private assets recently plunged, resulted in a $40-million lose at the company. Maybe it was time for a strategic reassessment.
Is it time to get back in wealth management? Goodman has been prevented from playing in the sector as a result of non-compete agreements. But those agreements are coming off. Is the firm getting ready to get back into the sector? Such a move would make sense.
Wealth management is, of course, all the rage these days. The baby boomers are retiring. There are trillions about to be passed from the post-war generation to the kids. This is going to be one of the basic wealth trends of the decade to come. CIBC recently reoriented the entire company toward wealth management with accession of Victor Dodig to CEO. Goodman is, apparently, considering a similar shift. According to the newspaper of record in this country, the Globe and Mail, “there is a new strategic direction opening up at the company…”The man who sold his big mutual fund company to Bank of Nova Scotia wants to get back into the wealth management game….David Goodman, son of Ned Goodman and former chief executive of DundeeWealth Inc., is setting out to build a brand new asset manager, marking his first major foray since selling his former company to Scotiabank for $2.3-billion in.”
To facilitate this strategic shift, this past summer, family patriarch Ned Goodman, stepped out of the way, is now chairman and controlling shareholder, leaving room for David to become CEO at Dundee Corp., the central org of the family group. The other son, Jonathan, seemed to be cut out of the familial succession plan.
#pb#
The question of how to divide up wealth goes back to the roots of the species. There have been many systems created to manage father-son succession. The biblical story of the Prodigal Son—the journey of the younger son who pursues "self-discovery", takes up a quest to find and fulfill himself as the older brother commits to a more socially respectable way of being in the world and “moral conformity”—is all about how it is a father passes on the familial wealth. Are these deep trends and patterns playing out in the dynastic familial empire that is the Goodman family? It wouldn’t really be a surprise if this were the case, would it? These deep human patterns are ancient.
This fall, Jonathan, the other son, CEO of Dundee Capital Markets, board member since 1996, announced he was jumping ship and severing all links to the company. A Globe and Mail story quoted GMP analyst Stephen Boland, as writing that “[he did] not expect or anticipate any changes on the board, especially from one of the Goodman’s, which control the company.” Boland was also quoted as saying company’s focus on wealth management doesn’t sit well with Jon, who has been said to be setting out to start his own hedge fund. The move seemed a rather abrupt resignation. Jonathan has been Jonathan’s spot was only filled a couple days later when Mark Attanasio was named president of capital markets—the time delay in the appointment suggests the move wasn’t perfectly planned.
Were the old, deep, epic and mythic pattern played out again? Did the spurned, out-of-favour son, forced off the land when the farm was left to the older brother, find himself fated to be the prodigal one? “He wanted to do it on his own, otherwise he would get linked to us…He has decided he wants to do something else. We’re totally in favour of it and we’re going to help it,” Ned Goodman was quoted as saying in an interview with the Globe. “…he is still my son and his brothers love him…he wasn’t fired.”
According to the press release, “I am a significant shareholder in the company and I fully support management on its new initiatives which have afforded me the opportunity to pursue opportunities outside the company.” So everything is fine according to the son. Investors in Goodman stock need not worry.
But is there a deeper story here?
Dundee has long been the picture of a successful Canadian independent finance organization. The company is one of the major independents in this country. The firm, founded by patriarch, Ned Goodman, has long helped many mining and resource firms. The Goodman trail of companies is extensive. In 2011 the mutual fund company the family-firm founded and created was sold for over $2 billion to Scotia in 2011. The Goodman family is one of the most respected business families in the country.
Since the sale of Dynamic the Goodman family has been gone on to other things. There are investments in organic beef. A massive real estate portfolio was sold off in 2013. But business has been a bit dodgy. The valuations of private assets recently plunged, resulted in a $40-million lose at the company. Maybe it was time for a strategic reassessment.
Is it time to get back in wealth management? Goodman has been prevented from playing in the sector as a result of non-compete agreements. But those agreements are coming off. Is the firm getting ready to get back into the sector? Such a move would make sense.
Wealth management is, of course, all the rage these days. The baby boomers are retiring. There are trillions about to be passed from the post-war generation to the kids. This is going to be one of the basic wealth trends of the decade to come. CIBC recently reoriented the entire company toward wealth management with accession of Victor Dodig to CEO. Goodman is, apparently, considering a similar shift. According to the newspaper of record in this country, the Globe and Mail, “there is a new strategic direction opening up at the company…”The man who sold his big mutual fund company to Bank of Nova Scotia wants to get back into the wealth management game….David Goodman, son of Ned Goodman and former chief executive of DundeeWealth Inc., is setting out to build a brand new asset manager, marking his first major foray since selling his former company to Scotiabank for $2.3-billion in.”
To facilitate this strategic shift, this past summer, family patriarch Ned Goodman, stepped out of the way, is now chairman and controlling shareholder, leaving room for David to become CEO at Dundee Corp., the central org of the family group. The other son, Jonathan, seemed to be cut out of the familial succession plan.
#pb#
The question of how to divide up wealth goes back to the roots of the species. There have been many systems created to manage father-son succession. The biblical story of the Prodigal Son—the journey of the younger son who pursues "self-discovery", takes up a quest to find and fulfill himself as the older brother commits to a more socially respectable way of being in the world and “moral conformity”—is all about how it is a father passes on the familial wealth. Are these deep trends and patterns playing out in the dynastic familial empire that is the Goodman family? It wouldn’t really be a surprise if this were the case, would it? These deep human patterns are ancient.
This fall, Jonathan, the other son, CEO of Dundee Capital Markets, board member since 1996, announced he was jumping ship and severing all links to the company. A Globe and Mail story quoted GMP analyst Stephen Boland, as writing that “[he did] not expect or anticipate any changes on the board, especially from one of the Goodman’s, which control the company.” Boland was also quoted as saying company’s focus on wealth management doesn’t sit well with Jon, who has been said to be setting out to start his own hedge fund. The move seemed a rather abrupt resignation. Jonathan has been Jonathan’s spot was only filled a couple days later when Mark Attanasio was named president of capital markets—the time delay in the appointment suggests the move wasn’t perfectly planned.
Were the old, deep, epic and mythic pattern played out again? Did the spurned, out-of-favour son, forced off the land when the farm was left to the older brother, find himself fated to be the prodigal one? “He wanted to do it on his own, otherwise he would get linked to us…He has decided he wants to do something else. We’re totally in favour of it and we’re going to help it,” Ned Goodman was quoted as saying in an interview with the Globe. “…he is still my son and his brothers love him…he wasn’t fired.”
