Hamilton, Ont.-based Burgeonvest Financial Corp. and Bick Financial Corp., based in nearby Ancaster, Ont., have merged their investment-advisory arms in order to establish a multi-platform, full-service dealer.

Effective Dec. 31, Burgeonvest Securities Ltd. , an Investment Dealers Association of Canada member, and Bick Financial Security Corp. , a Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada member, have merged to form Burgeonvest Bick Corp.

“We have talked about opening an MFDA firm for years,” says Mario Frankovich, president of Burgeonvest Securities. “But we have never done it because we knew we weren’t going to do it right on our own. Then, all of a sudden, here is a firm that is really doing it right — and we have an opportunity to partner with them.”

In addition, Burgeonvest Financial has transferred its MGA, Burgeonvest Insurance Corp. , to BBC; advisors at both Burgeonvest Securities and Bick Financial Security who are licensed to offer insurance products will now do so through Burgeonvest Insurance.

What makes this situation unusual is that the merger was not initiated by either firm due to financial difficulties, nor did any hostile or lengthy buyout or negotiation take place.

“People are asking me: ‘Why the merger? I thought you were doing well’,” says Clarence Bick, president and co-founder of Bick Financial with brother Leonard. “There is an assumption that you do a merger because you are forced into it. That is not the case at all, which probably makes the merger a little bit more difficult because we both have something to lose. And yet, the whole process went very well, which was why we wanted to do this.”

Before any papers were signed, Bick and Frankovich had in-depth discussions about how the merger would affect their respective clients. “We found that our [joint] platform would provide more choice for clients,” says Bick, “as well as attract high-quality advi-sors, which in turn would take care of our clients the right way.”

BBC will offer clients access to services and products from all three platforms — IDA, MFDA and insurance, although the three BBC lines of business will continue to operate as stand-alone businesses under their own names. BBC will make clear to clients, however, with which entity they are dealing.

Although the model of multiple platforms under a single umbrella is nothing new in the financial services industry, Frankovich maintains that one of the main problems that firms with both MFDA and IDA platforms encounter is that they run them as “silos.” There is very little respect or understanding of how the operations complement one another from a licensing perspective.

“It is a mistake not to integrate strategically at the top,” he says.

In the case of BBC, Frankovich takes on the role of CEO of both Bick Financial Security and Burgeonvest Securities. Clarence Bick will continue in his role in practice management, helping associates at both firms run their businesses more efficiently and providing the technical knowledge needed for investing. Leonard Bick will continue in his role in sales and marketing. All three will be on the BBC board of directors, which will be made up of eight members, four from each firm.

“One of the major benefits to Burgeonvest is that we had some holes in our management expertise,” Frankovich says. “We did not have resources dedicated to practice management or the talent in the sales and marketing area that Bick had. So, we see the complement of being able to work with the resources that Clarence and Len bring to these areas as major wins.”

Although the merger took slightly more than three months to complete, the relationship between the principals and their firms goes back more than 20 years. Leonard and Clarence Bick met Frankovich in 1985 on a consulting job. Since then, the three have kept in touch, both professionally and socially, organizing ski trips and luncheons. Over the past 15 years, they have made a point to get together regularly to discuss industry issues.

“We like to get together and share our thoughts and create strategies,” Clarence Bick says. “We were never competitors — one is an IDA platform and the other is MFDA — so the crossover with clients was next to nothing. Certainly, we thought that we could benefit from each other’s experience.”

@page_break@The idea of merging began this past September, when Bick felt it was time to hire a president for Bick Financial Security. With several candidates in mind, he decided to consult with Frankovich about the process. “After a few conversations with Mario about job descriptions and parameters, a light bulb went on in my mind. I asked myself, ‘What if Mario was in the running?’” says Bick. “He stood head and shoulders above the other candidates and he was a perfect fit.”

From there, things moved very quickly for the two firms. They started merger talks and had the paperwork and legal process underway less than six weeks later.

Both firms were established in the early 1990s and have had significant growth since. Bick Financial Security has eight offices in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe, with 22 licensed individuals. Burgeonvest Securities has 37 licensed individuals, with four offices in Hamilton, Burlington, Ont., Toronto and Windsor, Ont. Combined, the two firms service $1.1 billion of client assets.

The three platforms of the two firms are all successful, growing businesses in their own right — something Frankovich considers as one of several advantages that BBC has.

“We could both go on our merry ways being highly successful and growing on our own,” he says. “But we can grow faster and harder together, attracting new advisors better than we could ever separately.

“There is a lot of turbulence in the investment world right now,” he adds, “and we want to take advantage to offer platforms that are real, not just there in name.”

The goal is to grow the joint assets under management as well as the number of advisors and offices.

“The first logical step is to expand in Ontario and then think about expanding across the country,” Bick says. But as Burgeonvest Financial already holds licences in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, it won’t take long to get the plans rolling.

“Right now, my concern is becoming partners with the right advisors,” Bick says. “Our business is about reputation, and we need to know who it is that is coming on board — especially if they are working far away, where it would take some effort to get out and get to know them.”

Both Bick and Frankovich agree that making sure the former firms work well together is the key goal over the next three months. “The reason we wanted to merge the firms,” Bick says, “is so we could all work together effectively, and that has to be Step 1.”

The process of advisors moving between platforms hasn’t been entirely worked out yet, although there has already been interest in movement, surprisingly, from the IDA to the MFDA platform.

“We want to build on what is best for the advisors and let them choose what works for them,” Frankovich says. “A huge differentiating factor in our platform is that it is a real marriage here. In too many organizations, one platform is the dominant one. We really want people to gravitate to the platform that is right for them and that — whichever one they go to — they are treated as a first-class citizen.” IE