Baltimore-based securities firm Legg Mason Inc. announced today that it has closed its acquisition of Royce & Associates. Legg Mason trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and also owns Canada’s Perigee Investment Counsel.

Royce manages the value-oriented family of small-cap and micro-cap mutual funds, known as The Royce Funds. Shareholders of each of the Royce Funds approved new investment advisory agreements between the funds and Royce at shareholder meetings held on September 14.

The transaction, which was announced on July 18, is expected to be immediately accretive to Legg Mason’s earnings per share. As of September 30, Royce had approximately US$4.7 billion under management.