Echelon-PI Financial Merger To Combine $12 Billion In Assets Under Management

Toronto-based wealth management firm Echelon Wealth Partners and Vancouver-based investment dealer PI Financial confirmed transaction rumors on Tuesday, announcing “a merger of equals to create a leading investment advisory, wealth management, and capital markets firm.”

The investment banking space is about to get tighter after the two companies requested regulatory clearance for ownership modifications that will result in common ownership starting April 1, 2023. PI and Echelon will merge their operations afterwards, which is expected to be completed in early 2024.

The merger, the firms said, is set to combine “over $12 billion of client assets… [and] over 550 employees.” The companies tout the combined firm as “the second largest amongst Canadian non-bank capital markets firms.”

“This is an exciting day for our two firms,” said Echelon CEO David Cusson. “PI and Echelon – two well-respected, profitable, and innovative firms – are creating an amalgamated firm that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Following the merger, Cusson is expected to serve as the resulting firm’s CEO while PI Financial CEO Jean-Paul Bachellerie will become President and COO.

“Although our firms have different strengths, we see this transaction as a merger of equals,” said Bachellerie. “Echelon and PI have similar corporate cultures centred around independence, entrepreneurship and a commitment to excellence, which will allow the combined firm to more effectively serve our clients and create value.”

The announcement follows reports of a potential merger between the two firms. PI Financial is currently owned by H.I.G. Capital and RCM Capital Management, whom acquired its interest in the firm from its prior owner, the Ng Group of Companies headed by Gary Ng, in July of 2020 for undisclosed terms.

Ng was then forced to sell the firm after he came into the crosshairs of the Investment Industry Regulator Organization of Canada for the “fraudulent conduct” he committed in taking loans to fund his purchase of PI Financial. The regulator alleges that the fraudulent conduct occurred when Ng secured $172 million in funds from three separate lenders to fund the all-cash purchase.

A subsequent story on the fraud case identifies H.I.G. Capital and RCM Capital as two of the three lenders that Ng allegedly defrauded.

Ng has been fined a total of $5.0 million by IIROC, and is now permanently banned from registration in any capacity.

While details on the Echelon-PI Financial merger haven’t been disclosed yet, Ng reportedly paid around $100 million for the firm in 2018.


Information for this story was found via the Sedar and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Views expressed within are solely that of the author. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.

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