Fiera Capital has reached an agreement with GMP Capital to acquire flagship funds pertaining to the GMP Diversified Alpha Fund and the Canadian ABCP Fund.
These represent approximately $570 million in assets under management, and GMP Investment Management is currently managing the funds.
As part of this transaction, key members of GMP’s investment management team—including CEO Jason Marks—will join the management team of a newly created Fiera Capital subsidiary, in which management will have a minority ownership interest.
Under the terms of the agreement, the purchase price includes a $10.75 million cash consideration, in addition to the aforementioned minority interest by the management team.
Fiera will also pay 25% of performance fees based on the acquired assets for a period of three years, subject to certain minimum asset under management thresholds. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.
“This transaction makes perfect sense as it will allow us to expand our alternative strategies, an investment area that has been experiencing significant momentum over the past few years in the North American marketplace,” says Jean-Guy Desjardins, chairman and CEO of Fiera.
He adds, “For clients, this acquisition will translate into more product innovation and offerings.”
Fiera has $58 billion in assets under management, excluding approximately $8 billion of assets under management acquired as part of the recently announced UBS Global Asset Management transaction.
The Alpha and ABCP Funds adhere to proprietary and disciplined absolute return-focused strategies that are designed to deliver steady growth, manage volatility and offer an attractive investment for high-net-worth and institutional clients.