Fiera reports profit, AUM increase in Q2

Fiera Capital Corp. reported net earnings of $13.8 million in the second quarter of 2021 as strong equities markets boosted assets under management (AUM) — even as the firm saw net withdrawals.

The Montreal-based asset manager’s Q3 profit compared to a net loss of $14.3 million in the same period last year, the firm said in its earnings report on Thursday.

AUM also increased by $6.6 billion to $179.5 billion, a jump of about 4% compared to the previous quarter.

The higher AUM was credited to market appreciation of $25.9 billion, as well as new mandates in the Institutional, Financial Intermediaries and Private Wealth distribution channels of $4.8 billion, $3.1 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. The acquisition of global equity team Fiera Atlas added another $0.9 billion.

These increases were partly offset by $16.0 billion of dispositions in the quarter due to the previously announced sale of the rights to manage Fiera Investments’ retail mutual funds, the sales of Wilkinson Global Asset Management and Bel Air Investment Advisors, and the termination of a revenue-sharing arrangement. Fiera also incurred foreign exchange losses of $5.8 billion, lost mandates of $7.0 billion, and net withdrawals from existing clients of $0.4 billion.

Fiera’s net organic AUM loss for the quarter — which does not include market, forex or acquisition/disposition effects — was $1.6 billion.

The company also appointed Bill Cashel to the newly created role of Global Head of Financial Intermediaries.

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