Mississauga, Ont.-based Investment Planning Counsel Inc. is adding geographical reach and some Western Canadian wealth-management bench strength with the acquisition of Regina-based Partners in Planning Financial Group Ltd. from the Walton Group of Cos.

The acquisition will boost IPC’s financial advisor ranks by about 300, to more than 900 advisors across the country; it is also a good geographical fit with IPC’s existing network, says Chris Reynolds, IPC’s president. “This gives [us] a very strong presence, nationally.”

But, more important perhaps, is that PIP represents a good cultural fit for IPC. “PIP operates almost exactly the same as IPC,” Reynolds points out. “[It has] the independent branch structure, advisors own their own books, we both very much promote the independent financial planning model and embrace financial planners and the value of advice.”

Furthermore, he adds, it helps that both companies were originally founded for advisors by advisors.

The addition of PIP to IPC’s network of advi-sors, Reynolds says, should make IPC the fourth- or fifth-largest independent dealer in Canada.

Although subject to regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close sometime in the final quarter of this year. IPC will buy PIP and its subsidiaries, which include Partners In Planning Financial Services Ltd., a mutual fund and exempt-market dealer, as well as national insurance agency Partners In Planning Insurance Services Inc.

IPC has a history of growth by acquisition — although it has been quiet of late on that front. “I think IPC is always open to a deal,” says Dan Hallett, vice president and director of asset management with HighView Financial Group of Oakville, Ont. “IPC has been a little bit of a consolidator, and it is probably in a good position to do those kinds of deals.”

PIP, which Hallett calls “a reasonably good-sized dealer,” offers some immediate benefits to IPC, he adds: “The dealer business is not a high-margin one. [IPC] gets a few things with this deal — it increases its scale a bit and it gets a broader distribution network for [Counsel Portfolio Services Inc. ], and it also picks up a little bit in assets in PIP’s mutual fund arm, Titan Funds Inc.”
@page_break@The PIP purchase has been in the works for about three months and represents IPC’s 24th and largest acquisition in the dealer space over its history. The deal ends an acquisition dry spell of two or three years, Reynolds says, that was caused, in large part, by the economic downturn.

Much like Hallett, Reynolds says that one of the main benefits of the purchase will be the big increase in IPC’s advisor base. “This business is about scale and the leveraging of services, marketing and training, and all of these things,” Reynolds says. “From the IPC advisors’ point of view, it gives us more scale, being a national company, so it helps us with our branding, that sort of thing.”

For IPC’s new team, the firm is touting the benefits of its larger operation. “One of the big advantages, especially to PIP advi-sors, is they get the advantage of a good back office and a good technology platform, as IPC has always been very big on the front end,” Reynolds says. “Our motto is: ‘Helping advisors build a better business.’ And we have a lot of those types of tools that PIP advi-sors can plug into that they never really had access to, from a company point of view.”

On the same day IPC announced the PIP purchase, the dealer also revealed it was acquiring Walton Group’s Titan Funds, which offer a suite of structured and balanced portfolios.

Like the main acquisition, Reynolds says, the Titan portfolio is a good match with the IPC’s Counsel funds in business model and culture: “Walton, in its ownership of PIP, saw the need to provide portfolio solutions for its advisors. So, this fits very well with the already established business plan we have. Counsel itself does not manage any money at all. Counsel is more a portfolio service. We help our advisors put together portfolios for their clients; we help them select the best managers for each mandate. We help them with things like rebalancing and reporting and communications. We don’t think we can do money management better than anyone else. What we are good at is packaging for advisors.”

Established in 1996 as an integrated wealth-management company to support advisors in delivering client-focused advice, IPC has $12 billion in assets under administration. IPC is part of Winnipeg-based IGM Financial Inc., which had $118 billion in total assets under management as of Aug. 31. IGM’s stock trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Prior to the acquisition, PIP was one of the largest privately held financial services companies in Canada, with more than 300 independent advisors and agents operating out of more than 100
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