CI acquires US$23B Chicago-based RIA

CI Financial is acquiring Chicago-based Segall Bryant & Hamill, a registered investment advisor (RIA) and institutional asset manager with US$23.1 billion in assets under advisement, the Toronto-based firm announced Monday. The deal, once completed, will double the size of CI’s U.S. business to US$46.1 billion.

Established in 1994, Segall Bryant & Hamill (SBH) serves wealth management, intermediary and institutional clients from offices in Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Naples, Florida. The firm’s wealth management platform, on a stand-alone basis, has $6.0 billion in assets, with the remainder on its institutional platform. CI indicated in a release that it intends “to build on the strong momentum of SBH’s institutional platform.”

The SBH acquisition is CI’s 14th in the U.S. — including acquisitions by CI-affiliated RIAs — since January 2020. Once the SBH deal is completed, CI’s total North American wealth management assets are expected to be approximately $104 billion (US$82 billion), the firm said.

“Acquiring [SBH] is a major step forward as we continue our U.S. expansion,” said Kurt MacAlpine, CEO of CI Financial, in the release. “SBH has built an incredible business and formed a committed team that embodies the characteristics we look for in our acquisitions.”

The SBH team would remain intact, MacAlpine said, and be a key driver of CI’s growth in the U.S.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Rudy Mezzetta

Rudy is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on tax, estate planning, industry news and more since 2005. Reach him at rudy@newcom.ca.