Toronto-based Dundee Securities Ltd. is selling its private wealth division to Euro Pacific Canada Inc., also based in Toronto, which will result in the move of 78 investment advisors and their related support teams.

Euro Pacific will also acquire Dundee Securities’ separately managed account program as well as employees related to Dundee Securities’s fixed-income, foreign-exchange and insurance businesses, according to an announcement released on Thursday.

“Dundee expects to realize significant annualized savings by lowering our operating costs, while at the same time, providing an excellent home at Euro Pacific for our investment advisors to continue servicing their clients,” says Richard McIntyre, executive vice president and head of Dundee Global Investment Management, in a statement.

The sale of Dundee Goodman Private Wealth will result in approximately $40 million of additional liquidity and ongoing cost savings for Dundee and will allow it to focus on growing its alternative asset-management and private investment counsel business lines.

Dundee Securities and Euro Pacific will also enter into a distribution arrangement, which will see Euro Pacific distributing certain new products that Dundee Global Investment Management has created.

“Dundee continues to view the [Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)] full-service retail brokerage channel as a critical component of the wealth-management landscape in Canada,” says Bob Sellars, executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Dundee Securities.

“Instead of continuing to invest in this distribution channel directly, however, Dundee is stepping out of the business in order to treat IIROC and other independent advisors as key distribution partners,” he continues.

The deal means that Euro Pacific, which was founded in 2010, will triple the size of its investment advisor force to 100. It will also receive approximately $3.5 billion of investible client assets, which will help increase its assets under management and administration to approximately $4.2 billion. Dundee Goodman Private Wealth advisors will conduct their business as Euro Pacific advisors upon the closing of the deal and will continue to work out of their current office locations.

“This is a unique time in the Canadian brokerage space and we’re excited about the opportunity to become the preeminent independent investment dealer in Canada,” says David Cusson, CEO of Euro Pacific, in a statement.

“Euro Pacific offers independent advisors looking for professional management a compelling alternative to the banks. Nimble, client-focused DNA is part of our differentiation. We also provide stability, scale, a strong financial base and a technologically advanced infrastructure to help them better serve their clients,” he adds.

Dundee Securities will continue to operate its investment banking, research and institutional sales and trading business under the name of Dundee Capital Markets, which will not be impacted by the sale.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, subject to all required regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.