Desjardins Financial Corp. is merging its existing investment branches, Opvest and Elantis Investment Management, to create a new investment division called Desjardins Asset Management.

The Montreal-based company said the move is part of a two-pronged strategy aimed at making Desjardins Group the main wealth manager for its members and clients. The company is also taking a minority position in Fiera International Inc., which will be headed by Jean-Guy Desjardins as president. Fiera will operate under the name Fiera Capital and will have about $5 billion in assets under management inherited from Elantis.

“The creation of Desjardins Asset Management will enable us to consolidate our asset management and investment strategic resources in a single division and optimize our performance,” Monique Leroux, president of Desjardins Financial and CEO of Opvest and Elantis, said in a statement.

The transaction is expected to close before the end of August, subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities.

Under the restructuring, Leroux will act as CEO of Desjardins Asset Management and Gérard Guilbault, currently senior vice president and chief investment officer of Desjardins Financial, and CIO of Opvest, will be chief operating officer. The position of president of Elantis Investment Management is being eliminated; it is currently held by Richard Neault, who is resigning Sept. 30.

Desjardins Asset Management will oversee management of $25 billion in assets, coming mainly from the Desjardins Group and its components.

Leroux said Desjardins Asset Management will continue to manage in-house most of Desjardins Group’s and its components’ own funds. ‘[But] we are adopting a new management model that will enable our subsidiaries to assign mandates to outside portfolio managers selected for their style and specialty.”

She said Jean-Guy Desjardins “is resolved at making Montreal-based Fiera Capital a top-tier investment management firm.” Its $5 billion in AUM will come from mutual funds, pension funds, foundations, religious institutions and private portfolios from external clients as well as from various subsidiaries of the Desjardins Group.

“This is a promising partnership, that will benefit the current and future clients of our new firm,” Jean-Guy Desjardins said. “We’re setting up a new Canadian portfolio management firm that will emphasize the development of high quality, competitive products that will be made available to the mutual funds industry, as well as to institutional and private clients.”