The French investment firm Natixis Investment Managers (IM) is divesting its block of 10.68 million shares of the Montreal investment management firm Fiera Capital, which it had held for several years.
Posted at 7:09 p.m.
The resale transaction announced at the end of the trading session on Wednesday will be divided into two parts.
On the one hand, Fiera Capital will buy back 3.56 million of its shares held by Natixis IM at the agreed price of 34.8 million as part of its share buyback and cancellation program already in progress. This program will also be increased from 4 to 6.3 million shares with a maximum buyback allocation by August 15, 2022.
On the other hand, Natixis IM will sell its other 7.12 million shares of Fiera Capital to a financial syndicate (group of investment firms) led by RBC Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Royal Bank.
The amount of this resale of shares is determined according to their market value on Friday January 14, the day announced for the closing of a so-called “bought deal” transaction with the financial syndicate. According to the stock quotation of Fiera Capital at the end of the trading session in Toronto on Wednesday, $ 10.73, the resale of this block of 7.12 million shares could bring in some 75 million to Natixis IM.
In the opinion of Jean-Guy Desjardins, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fiera Capital, the transaction to buy back 3.56 million shares held by Natixis IM “represents a unique opportunity for us to buy back our shares at a attractive price, which is in line with our objectives in the context of our normal course buyback offer ”.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Jean-Philippe Lemay, CEO of Fiera Capital
In a press release, the new global president and CEO of Fiera Capital, Jean-Philippe Lemay, specifies that despite this exit of Natixis IM from its shareholding, Fiera Capital “will continue its collaboration with Natixis within the framework of [leur] distribution agreement [de produits d’investissement, établie en 2019] which has enabled Fiera Capital to offer an even wider selection of complementary investment strategies to its clients, thus resulting in increased personalization of their portfolios ”.
“The sale of our shares in Fiera Capital will give us additional flexibility to allocate capital according to our long-term strategic priorities,” said Natixis IM CEO Tim Ryan.
In the meantime, Mr. Ryan says he is happy that Natixis IM can “continue the strategic distribution partnership with Fiera Capital, which has enabled the two firms to offer their clients a complementary range of investment strategies to help them achieve their financial objectives ”.