CI acquires US$6.4-billion Seattle-based RIA

CI Financial Corp. has acquired Seattle-based Columbia Pacific Wealth Management (CPWM), a registered investment advisor (RIA) firm with US$6.4 billion in assets, the firm announced Wednesday.

Toronto-based CI has also acquired a minority stake in Columbia Pacific Advisors, LLC (CPA), an alternative asset management firm that manages US$3.5 billion in assets under management. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

“Columbia Pacific has built remarkable wealth management and alternative asset management businesses centered on delivering the best possible outcomes for their clients and investors,” CI CEO Kurt MacAlpine said in a release announcing the deals. “Their success has been driven by highly skilled and committed leadership teams with extensive experience in financial services and other businesses.”

When these and other outstanding transactions are completed, CI’s U.S. wealth management assets – of about US$115 billion, or $147 billion – are expected to represent CI’s largest business line by assets, exceeding core asset management and Canadian wealth management.

CI Financial operates in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.

Columbia Pacific serves high-net-worth clients and institutions from offices in Seattle and San Francisco. Its services include including retirement, estate, tax, and cash flow planning, risk management, and investment management.

For its part, Columbia Pacific Advisors provides alternative investment strategies that include real estate private equity, direct lending to real estate, commercial, and industrial businesses, opportunistic and hedged strategies.

As part of the transaction for the wealth manager, CPWM owners will become equity partners in CI Private Wealth, the private partnership that holds CI’s broader U.S. wealth management business.

Following the completion of the transactions, the leadership teams at CPWM and CPA will remain in place, CI indicated.

Rudy Mezzetta

Rudy is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on tax, estate planning, industry news and more since 2005. Reach him at rudy@newcom.ca.