Industrial Alliance to acquire BLC-Rothschild

(November 4, 2004) Montreal-based life insurance firm Industrial Alliance has signed an agreement to purchase BLC-Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management from Laurentian Bank and Paris-based Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque.

The deal will include an upfront payment of $65 million and a final payment of $8 million five years after the transaction closes, subject to certain conditions, the two companies announced on Thursday.

In addition, Industrial Alliance and Laurentian have agreed to a 10-year exclusive agreement under which Laurentian will distribute BLC-Edmond de Rothschild’s R-series of funds, as well as Industrial Alliance funds.

“We are very pleased with this transaction, which is an excellent springboard for our mutual fund management activities,” says Yvon Charest, president and CEO of Industrial Alliance. “This transaction will enable us to quickly expand our fund family and will provide us with immediate scale in this sector.”

“We are entrusting the manufacturing of the funds to our new partner so that we can concentrate on distributing these funds in our branch network, an area in which we have very strong capacities,” added Laurentian Bank CEO Raymond McManus.

The agreement is expected to close in December, pending regulatory approval.

BLC-Edmond de Rothschild has $1.75 billion in assets under management, including $902 million in mutual funds, $144 million in private wealth assets and $704 million in institutional assets.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, doug.watt@advisor.rogers.com