Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. has signed a deal to acquire Australian financial services company Wilsons Advisory.
Financial terms of the share-sale agreement were not immediately available.
Wilsons Advisory was founded in 1895 and has wealth management and capital markets operations. For the year ended June 30, 2025, the firm reported net revenue of A$81 million and A$16.7 billion in assets under advice, of which A$7.1 billion are fee-based assets.
“Our acquisition of Wilsons positions Canaccord Genuity Australia as one of the leading integrated wealth management and capital markets firms in Australia, differentiated by scale, deep local expertise and global reach, and we look forward to bringing our teams together,” Marcus Freeman, CEO of Canaccord Genuity Australia, said in a release. “By uniting our complementary strengths and increasing the scale of our operations, we expect to substantially enhance our value proposition and product suite for our wealth management and capital markets clients.”
Canaccord says the deal helps grow its business in a key market. It operates in Canada, Australia and the U.K. Post-merger, Canaccord will have around A$17 billion in fee-generating client assets and A$41.8 billion in assets under advice in Australia.
It added that senior management at Wilsons are expected to have significant involvement in the combined business. In the release, Brad Gale, CEO of Wilsons Advisory, said the merger was driven by strategic alignment and a shared vision for growth.
“By combining our strengths, we are building a powerful Australian wealth management and capital markets business with greater scale, broader capabilities and a stronger platform to support our clients while creating more opportunities for our people,” he said.
Australia represents a smaller slice of Canaccord’s wealth management business ($23.1 million in revenue in its latest quarter) than its operations in the United Kingdom ($125.7 million in revenue) and Canada ($94.1 million).
However, the segment has been growing quickly. In its latest quarter ended June 30, Canaccord recorded 25.2% year-over-year revenue growth in Australia compared to 17% in the U.K. and just 4.5% in Canada.
The firm currently has 127 advisors in Australia, 299 revenue investment professionals in the U.K. and 143 investment advisory teams in Canada.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
Earlier this year, Canaccord announced it would sell its U.S. wholesale market-making business to Cantor.