Stifel Financial has agreed to acquire the capital markets arm of Canadian investment bank GMP Capital in an all-cash transaction valued at nearly $52m.
The transaction excludes GMP’s US cannabis and certain clearing businesses.
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GMP’s capital markets business includes advisory and underwriting, institutional sales and trading as well as research services.
The firm now plans to focus on its wealth management operations.
It is in negotiations to increase its stake to 100% in Canadian wealth manager Richardson GMP.
Currently, GMP has a 33% stake in Richardson GMP.
GMP chairman of the board Don Wright said: “With this sale, the GMP Board intends to deploy the Corporation’s strong capital position to focus and invest heavily in wealth management where we see significant opportunities to partner with the Richardson family, our top performing investment advisers and management at Richardson GMP to create significant long term value for shareholders.”
The deal with Stifel has already secured the nod of the GMP board. It is now pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
GMP CEO Harris Fricker and other key employees will move to Stifel post deal completion which is anticipated in the final quarter of this year.
Stifel chairman and CEO Ronald Kruszewski said: “Over the past 13 years, we have grown our annual institutional net revenues from roughly $60 million to more than $1 billion through a combination of strategic acquisitions and strong organic growth.
“The addition of GMP further enhances our institutional business given its strength in the Canadian markets and within the technology, healthcare, cannabis and energy verticals.”
Earlier this year, Stifel announced the acquisition of advisory firm Mooreland Partners.
