Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc. has bought iA Financial Group’s majority interest in the firm with help from a group of independent investors, the firm said Monday in a release.
The Kelowna, B.C.-based asset manager’s employees and management acquired iA Financial’s 73.3% stake with backing from an independent investor group. iA obtained a majority stake in Forstrong (then called Hahn Investment Stewards & Company Inc.) in 2013 through a broader acquisition.
“We are excited to broaden and increase employee ownership and grateful to iA’s support over the past eight years,” said Tyler Mordy, Forstrong’s CEO and CIO.
“We also welcome our new independent shareholders whose contributions will allow us to expand our leading-edge suite of active macro strategies for financial professionals, institutions and individual investors.”
The independent investor group includes Philip Armstrong, who built Toronto-based mutual fund firm Altamira Investment Services Inc., as well as other “seasoned investment professionals who have a history of entrepreneurship and innovation in Canada’s wealth management industry,” according to the release.
Sean O’Brien, executive vice-president with iA Wealth, said he wished his former colleagues the best.
“We view this transaction as a positive step in Forstrong’s ongoing growth evolution, as well as a necessary refinement in the core product strategy within iA’s wealth division,” O’Brien said in a statement.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.