Insurance industry giant Great-West Lifeco Inc. has purchased the $400-million book of mutual fund business of Montreal-based iForum Financial Services Inc., giving it inroads into two important markets in one fell swoop.

The addition of iForum’s assets and 70 independent advisors is a boost not only to Great-West’s national mutual fund division, Quadrus Investment Services Ltd. , but also to its operations in Quebec, says Marlene Klassen, director of media and public relations for the Winnipeg-based Great-West.

The transaction increases Great-West’s independent distribution channel in Quebec by more than 30%. The cost of the deal was not disclosed. Klassen notes Great-West, the publicly traded holding company of various insurance and fund assets, did not acquire iForum Financial Services nor sister company iForum Securities Inc., both of which have recently been placed in voluntary bankruptcy.

Quadrus, which boasts $2.5 billion in assets under administration, was launched five years ago. It has 3,600 registered representatives, including 200 in Quebec, and more than 60 offices across the country.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to expand Great-West’s individual distribution channel in Quebec,” Klassen adds. “These investment representatives indicated they were very enthusiastic about the opportunity to partner with Great-West and Quadrus to start distributing our products in Quebec. We see lots of opportunity to grow our distribution there.”

Quebec, home to more than $768 million of Great-West’s segregated fund assets, is an important market. “We are, of course, relatively new to the mutual fund side of the business, but it’s growing quickly,” Klassen says.

Great-West and its subsidiaries have more than $164 billion in assets under administration, the vast majority in insurance.

Neither Joe Pettinicchio, CEO of iForum, nor a spokesperson from the company’s receiver, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, could be reached for comment. Pettinicchio has held senior positions at various financial institutions, including AGF Management Ltd., Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Trust and Royal Mutual Funds.

“All transactions have to make sense for both parties; this one was no different,” says Klassen. “iForum did go to the marketplace; it felt our offer best served its stakeholders.”

Dan Richards, president of Strategic Imperatives Ltd. , a Toronto-based consulting firm to the financial services industry, says the Quebec market is a tough nut to crack for the vast majority of Canada’s mutual fund dealers.

“With the exception of Dundee Private Investors Inc. , most dealers are underdeveloped in Quebec,” he says. “There are some distinct characteristics in Quebec. You have more regional firms and a stronger insurance orientation, so you tend to have smaller books of business in terms of mutual funds.”

Richards says the difference is reflected in the math of the iForum deal, in which the average advisor manages less than $6 million in client assets.

“You could speculate that part of the rationale for Great-West doing this deal might be as much for the insurance benefits as for the mutual fund benefits,” he says, noting that its subsidiary, London Life Insurance Co. , was relatively late to the mutual fund game but has been working hard to make up for lost time. “It’s had some success building momentum for Quadrus.”

Although the iForum deal represents the first block of mutual fund business purchased by Quadrus, Klassen says, it won’t be the last.

“Quadrus is in business for the long term,” she says. “We do intend to make strategic acquisitions of other blocks of business in the future, when we have opportunities to expand our distribution as other mutual fund dealers leave the business.” IE