Toronto-based Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd.’s Hydrostone team in Halifax will be gaining five advisors from Halifax-based Beacon Securities Ltd. effective Sept. 1 following Beacon’s announced strategic shift to move away from serving retail clients.

Beacon, a full-service investment dealer serving clients across Canada and globally, announced on July 23, that it would focus on the expansion of its institutional equity and fixed-income businesses and, as a result, would no longer operate its retail private client group in Nova Scotia.

Assante Hydrostone, which administers more than $1 billion in assets on behalf of clients in Atlantic Canada, will be welcoming Graham Starratt, Gary Bliss, J. Richard Johnson, Bob Mackay and Jane Smith from Beacon’s private client group.

Starratt, Mackay, and Smith will move to the Hydrostone location while Bliss and Johnson will continue to operate from their existing locations in Halifax and Antigonish, respectively.

“The Assante Hydrostone team is very pleased to welcome these advisors and their clients to the Assante family,” says Chris Rafuse, senior financial advisor with Assante Capital Management Ltd. in statement. “We’re looking forward to working with the new advisors to assist them in meeting their clients’ long-term financial planning, estate and investment goals.”

The addition of the advisors will accelerate the next phase of growth for Assante Hydrostone, which appointed a new branch operations manager, Stephen Doane, in June.

Assante has 750 advisors who oversee approximately $34 billion in assets for 300,000 clients and their families nationwide. Assante is a subsidiary of Toronto-based CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX).