Natixis Investment Managers has agreed to sell all 10.68 million of its shares in Fiera Capital Corporation in a deal expected to close Friday.
Natixis paid $128.16 million for an 11% stake in Montreal-based Fiera in 2019 when the firms announced a partnership making Fiera Natixis’ preferred Canadian distribution platform.
With the 2019 deal, Fiera agreed to distribute Natixis investment strategies to Canadian institutional, private wealth and retail clients, while Natixis would offer Fiera investment strategies in international markets.
In a release announcing its sale of Fiera shares, Natixis said the distribution agreement would remain in place “subject to certain amendments.”
Fiera will repurchase for cancellation 3.56 million shares from Natixis for $34.88 million, and Natixis will sell the other 7.12 million Fiera shares through a syndicate led by RBC Capital Markets in a block trade.
Jean-Guy Desjardins, executive chairman of Fiera’s board, said in the release that the deal “represents a unique opportunity for us to buy back our shares at an attractive price.”
The closing of the share repurchase is dependent on the closing of the bought deal block trade.
Natixis CEO Tim Ryan said in the release that the deal would provide the firm with “additional flexibility to allocate capital in line with our long-term strategic priorities.”
As of April 2021, Natixis owned 10.3% of Fiera stock.
Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Invesment Management has nearly US$1.4 trillion in assets under management.
Fiera has about $181 billion in AUM.