(March 24 – 11:05 ET) – Rice Capital has signed a letter of intent to acquire the mutual fund dealership business of J.R. Morgan Securities Inc. of Langley, B.C., effective April 1, 2000. Morgan provides back-office support services for 10 independent financial planners and investment representatives in B.C. It has over $50 million in mutual fund assets under administration.
Along with this acquisition, J.R. Morgan’s president, John Morgan and Rice Capital will be setting up a new joint venture company, Morgan Rice Financial (MRF), to operate a branch office in Langley. MRF will acquire John Morgan’s personal business book of mutual fund assets under administration and the fixed assets of Morgan and its related company. This book of business will form the base of the Morgan Rice Financial branch office, which will continue to operate from Morgan’s current offices.
The acquisition will be satisfied by a combination of cash and the issue of treasury common shares of RCE and is subject to approval by the appropriate regulatory authorities.
RCE is the holding company of Winnipeg-based Rice Financial Group Inc. and Independent Wealth Advantage Inc. in B.C. and Alberta. The Rice Capital group of companies has assets under administration of $3 billion and more than 125,000 clients in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
-IE Staff