(March 2 – 09:35 ET) – Winnipeg’s Rice Capital Management Plus Inc. has purchased a couple of small deposit brokers from Merrill Lynch Canada Inc.
Rice picked up Saskatchewan-based Halmac & Associates Ltd. and Ottawa-based Gifford Associates for $2.7 million in cash. Combined, the two firms has $1.2 billion in assets under administration, over 50,000 clients, and combined gross annual revenue of $4.5 million. Over 100 independent planners and mutual fund reps come along too.
These deals push Rice Capital’s assets under administration to $3.0 billion, increase its total retail outlets by 6 to 47, and push its client base to over 125,000. The retail outlets will be integrated with Rice Financial to become known as Halmac Rice Financial and Gifford Rice Financial. Halmac’s president Brian Thomson will continue in that role and will initially oversee Gifford too.
-IE Staff