CI Financial adds $5 billion RIA, reports record financial results

CI Financial CEO Kurt MacAlpine at the NYSE

The Canadian financial conglomerate acquired Newport Beach, California-based Corient Capital, while its earnings show its U.S. operations now represent its largest business segment.

Toronto-based aggregator CI Financial announced the acquisition of a $5 billion RIA Tuesday, along with record fourth-quarter financial results.

The $305 billion financial conglomerate, which has acquired more than $120 billion worth of U.S. wealth management assets since entering the market two years ago, is buying Newport Beach, California-based Corient Capital Partners.

Founded in 2015, Corient combines a holistic advisory model with an alternative investments platform that will join CI Private Wealth, CI Financial’s U.S. business.

“We are excited to join CI Private Wealth and partner with what are, without question, some of the highest-quality firms in our industry,” Corient partner Darren Henderson said in a prepared statement.

“The CI Private Wealth partnership model supports the continued enhancement of the services we offer our clients, while as partners, we will participate fully in the development of a new, national private wealth firm,” Henderson added.

The deal, which is expected to close by the end of June, also serves as a liquidity event for Merchant Investment Management, which has had a minority ownership stake in Corient since 2020. Tim Bello, Merchant managing partner, confirmed that the Corient sale marks the first time in Merchant’s five-year history that the private investor has sold an investment from its $110 billion portfolio.

CI Financial’s fourth-quarter earnings report describes 2021 as “the most successful year in the history of CI in terms of financial performance and asset gathering,” Chief Executive Kurt MacAlpine said in a statement.

CI’s $302 billion in total assets represents a 66% increase over the same period last year, with much of the growth attributable to acquisitions of registered investment advisers through the U.S. operation, CI Private Wealth.

The Dec. 31 quarter ended with CI’s U.S. operations representing $119 billion of its assets, making it the company’s largest business unit.

During the quarter, CI completed the acquisitions of eight RIAs with combined assets of approximately $34 billion.