Asset management business notches best quarter in six years, while U.S. wealth business grows 550% on expansion push
CI Financial, which is listed on both the TSX and the New York Stock Exchange, is reporting significant wins for the latest quarterly results in both its asset management and wealth businesses.
Reporting its preliminary results for the quarter ended on September 30, 2021, CI said its asset management businesses saw overall net sales of $800 million, which includes $700 million and $200 million in its Canadian retail and U.S. segments, respectively.
“The transformational changes we have made include moving from a multi-boutique asset management structure to a fully integrated global platform, completely revamping our sales and marketing model, incorporating data analytics into sales and other operations, and adopting a new, more robust approach to product development that has resulted in the introduction of a series of more relevant investment products,” said CI Chief Executive Officer Kurt MacAlpine. “We believe these changes are directly responsible for the turnaround in the performance and sales of our Canadian Asset Management business.”
The latest report marks the second consecutive quarter of positive net flows for CI’s asset management business, and its best net sales since the second quarter of 2015.
From an assets perspective, CI reported $146.6 billion in total assets under management, and $173.8 billion in total wealth management assets. With total assets of $320.4 billion for the quarter ended in September, the company has seen a roughly 65% increase in assets compared to the year-ago period.
That growth was driven significantly by a surge in the company’s U.S. wealth management business as it pursues an aggressive acquisition campaign to expand its footprint below the 49th parallel. The latest report shows CI’s U.S. wealth assets standing at $97 billion, a roughly 550% change from around $15 billion a year ago.
Its most recent deals involve the California-based Portola Partners, which it officially completed on September 30, and Ohio-based Budros, Ruhlin & Roe (BRR), which was finalized on October 1. The two RIAs added wealth management assets of approximately $6.7 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively, though the BRR assets are not included in the latest preliminary results.
