3MACS SCOOPED UP
Raymond James expands
Raymond James Financial Inc. agreed to acquire Canadian private-wealth manager MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier Inc., the latest in a series of takeovers by the U.S. financial services firm.
Raymond James’s purchase of the Montreal-based company, known as 3Macs, will create a Canadian investment dealer with more than $33 billion in assets under administration, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based firm said Thursday in a statement that didn’t disclose terms. The transaction is expected to be completed this year.
Raymond James Chief Executive Officer Paul Reilly has been boosting the firm’s growth through acquisitions. Last year, he agreed to buy Deutsche Bank AG’s U.S. privateclient services unit, as well as Canadian asset manager Cougar Global Investments Ltd. and Producers Choice LLC, a private insurance and annuity-marketing company.
The acquisition will add 72 advisers in Canada who oversee about $6 billion of client assets under administration, the companies said. MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier CEO Randy Ambrosie will remain after the purchase and report to Paul Allison, CEO of Raymond James’s Canadian unit. Tim Price, chairman of 3Macs, will join Raymond James Ltd.’s board.
“It’s a good merger,” Ian Russell, CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, said Thursday in an interview. “You’ve just created a very strong, independent firm that will add significant competitive pressures and choice into the market.”
3Macs’ roots go back to 1849, when Montreal broker Donald Lorn MacDougall and his brother established the MacDougall Brothers, according to the money manager’s website. The firm merged with MacTier & Co. in 1960.
Raymond James has operated in Canada since January 2001. The company employs more than 1,000 people in the country, including 370 advisers and portfolio managers at 117 locations.