GWO Great West Lifeco Inc

Acquisition aligns with Canada Life's vision to establish a leadership position in the Canadian independent advisor wealth market

• With the acquisition of Investment Planning Counsel (IPC) and its broad range of wealth management solutions – including an IIROC dealer – Canada Life is accelerating its vision of establishing a leading wealth management platform for independent advisors and their clients.
• IPC and Canada Life's existing wealth platforms create one of Canada's largest non-bank wealth providers.
• Over time, Canada Life expects to build to a single, end-to-end wealth platform, by leveraging the advantages of greater scale, a broader set of solutions and enhanced support, creating a best-in-class experience for advisors and their clients.
• IPC and Canada Life's wealth platforms will continue to operate separate from one another as the regulatory environment evolves, and the company invests in its dealer technologies.

WINNIPEG, MB, April 3, 2023 /CNW/ - The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life), a subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco Inc., has reached an agreement to acquire Investment Planning Counsel Inc., a leading independent wealth management firm, from IGM Financial Inc. (IGM). This acquisition extends Canada Life's wealth management reach and capabilities, helping advisors to better meet the diverse and changing needs of more Canadians.

"We are building on our strong Canadian franchise with a growing personal wealth business. This acquisition accelerates Canada Life's vision to establish a leadership position in the Canadian independent advisor wealth market," said Paul Mahon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Great-West Lifeco and Canada Life. "The addition of IPC, a business we've had keen interest in for some time, positions Canada Life for strong organic growth and further investments in market consolidation that support our strategy."

IPC is a leading wealth dealer and investment company operating both MFDA and IIROC platforms with 650 advisors. Upon closing of the acquisition, Canada Life will be one of the largest non-bank wealth providers in Canada¹ with over 4000 advisor relationships and more than $85 billion in assets under administration.

"I'm delighted that the IPC team will be moving over to Canada Life and continue to be part of the Power Corporation of Canada group of companies," said James O'Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer, IGM Financial Inc. "This transaction provides Canada Life with the opportunity to deepen their presence in the Canadian wealth market and assist IPC in achieving its full strategic potential. Canada Life will be a strong owner of this business."

"We've long believed in the value of advice. IPC's strong advisor relationships will help expand access to the trusted advice Canada Life is known for," said Jeff Macoun, President and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Life. "IPC's mutual fund, securities, and discretionary dealer platforms mean advisors can grow their practices in support of the changing needs of their clients and do so within the evolving regulatory environment. Together, Canada Life and IPC will offer independent advisors practice management, planning and succession support that will help them ensure continuity of advice and service for clients. We're excited to welcome IPC to the Canada Life family."

"IPC founder Chris Reynolds and I are thrilled to embark on our next chapter of growth with Canada Life," said Blaine Shewchuk, President and Chief Executive Officer, IPC. "The access to capital will support our ability to attract new advisors, provide innovative portfolio solutions, and continue to invest in helping advisors better serve their clients. Advisors will continue to enjoy the advantages that come with being part of an independent wealth firm, which includes an open architecture investment platform."

Transaction details

Canada Life will acquire IPC for a total cash consideration of $575 million, subject to adjustments. We expect to fund the transaction with available cash on hand. The IPC business is profitable today and the transaction is expected to be modestly accretive after two years.

Transaction and integration costs of $25 million pre-tax are expected over 12 to 18 months after the deal closes. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 and is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.

A committee of the board of directors of each of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and Canada Life, composed of directors who are independent of management and IGM, reviewed and approved the proposed terms of the transaction based on, among other things, a fairness opinion from RBC Capital Markets. Having received and considered a report of its committee and the opinion from RBC Capital Markets, the board of directors of each of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and Canada Life unanimously approved the transaction.

Conference call details

Great-West Lifeco will hold a conference call and webcast on the transaction on Monday, April 3 at 5:00 p.m. ET. The call and webcast can be accessed through greatwestlifeco.com/news-events/events or by phone at:

• Participants in from North America: 1-800-319-4610
• Participants from the Toronto area:  416-915-3239

Following the call, the webcast and presentation will be available at greatwestlifeco.com. The replay of the call will be available till May 3, 2023 by calling 1-855-669-9658 or 604-674-8052 (passcode: 0044).

Great-West Lifeco is an international financial services holding company with interests in life insurance, health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management and reinsurance businesses. We operate in Canada, the United States and Europe under the brands Canada Life, Empower, Putnam Investments, and Irish Life.  At the end of 2022, our companies had approximately 31,000 employees, 234,500 advisor relationships, and thousands of distribution partners – all serving our more than 38 million client relationships across these regions. Great-West Lifeco trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the ticker symbol GWO and is a member of the Power Corporation of Canada group of companies.  Learn more by visiting greatwestlifeco.com.

The Canada Life Assurance Company is an international company providing insurance, wealth management, and healthcare benefit products and services in Canada, the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Germany, and in Ireland through Irish Life. Canada Life also provides reinsurance products, though Canada Life Reinsurance, primarily in the U.S., Barbados, Bermuda and Ireland. 

We are an industry leader providing Canadians options for personal insurance solutions, including life, health and dental, disability, critical illness, and creditor insurance. As a leading provider of group workplace benefit plans, we help employers and associations provide valuable benefits to their employees and members. In addition, Canada Life offers investments, retirement and wealth management solutions including annuities and segregated funds.

For 175 years, individuals, families and business owners across Canada have trusted us to provide sound guidance and deliver on the promises we've made. We proudly serve more than 12 million customer relationships from coast to coast to coast.

Canada Life is a subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and a member of the Power Corporation of Canada group of companies.

IGM Financial Inc. is one of Canada's leading diversified wealth and asset management companies with approximately $258 billion in total assets under management and advisement at February 28, 2023. The company provides a broad range of financial planning and investment management services to help more than two million Canadians meet their financial goals. Its activities are carried out principally through IG Wealth Management, Mackenzie Investments, and Investment Planning Counsel. IGM Financial is a member of the Power Corporation of Canada group of companies.

This release may contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking information includes statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or include words such as "will", "may", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "objective", "target", "potential", "pro forma" and other similar expressions or negative versions thereof. These statements include, without limitation, statements about: the timing (for completion and integration), cost (including integration costs) and expected benefits and performance (including impact on clients, advisors, fees, margins, assets under administration (AUA) and assets under management (AUM), revenue synergies, accretion, and expected impact on LICAT, as well as the timing thereof in each case) of the acquisition of IPC and sources, amounts and timing of funding therefor, and otherwise concerning Great-West Lifeco ("Lifeco", or the "Company") and the operations, business, financial condition, expected financial performance, ongoing business strategies or prospects and possible future actions of the Company, Canada Life and IPC.

Forward-looking statements are based on expectations, forecasts, estimates, predictions, projections and conclusions about future events that were current at the time of the statements and are inherently subject to, among other things, risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company, economic factors and the financial services industry generally, including the insurance, mutual fund and wealth industries. This information has been provided to the reader to give an indication of the Company's current expectations concerning the impact of the IPC acquisition and such statements may not be suitable for other purposes. They are not guarantees of future performance, and the reader is cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Whether or not actual results differ from forward-looking information may depend on numerous factors, developments and assumptions, including, without limitation, the severity, magnitude and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of governments' and other businesses' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and the Company's financial results, financial condition and operations), the duration of COVID-19 impacts and the availability and adoption of vaccines, the effectiveness of vaccines, the emergence of COVID-19 variants, geopolitical tensions and related economic impacts, achievement or waiver of conditions to closing of the acquisition of IPC, assumptions around sales, fee rates, asset breakdowns, redemptions and market returns as well as the ability to integrate the IPC acquisition, leverage and achieve anticipated synergies, and client and advisor behaviour, Lifeco's, Canada Life's and IPC's reputation, market prices for products provided, sales levels, fee income, expense levels, taxes, inflation, interest, global equity and capital markets (including continued access to equity and debt markets), industry sector financial conditions (including developments and volatility arising from the COVID-19 pandemic), business competition, impairments of goodwill and other intangible assets, the Company's ability to execute strategic plans and changes to strategic plans, technological changes, breaches or failure of information systems and security (including cyber attacks), changes in local and international laws and regulations, changes in accounting policies and the effect of applying future accounting policy changes, changes in actuarial standards, unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings, catastrophic events, continuity and availability of personnel and third party service providers, the Company's ability to complete strategic transactions and integrate acquisitions, unplanned material changes to the Company's facilities, customer and employee relations or credit arrangements, levels of administrative and operational efficiencies, changes in trade organizations, and other general economic, political and market factors in Canada and internationally.

The reader is cautioned that the foregoing list of assumptions and factors is not exhaustive, and there may be other factors listed in filings with securities regulators, including factors set out in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2022 ("2022 Annual MD&A") under "Risk Management and Control Practices" and "Summary of Critical Accounting Estimates" and in the Company's annual information form dated February 8, 2023 under "Risk Factors", which, along with other filings, are available for review at www.sedar.com. The reader is also cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other than as specifically required by applicable law, the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Canada Life