CIX March 31 Assets Under MGMT $240.6-billion CI FINANCIAL REPORTS RECORD TOTAL ASSETS OF $240.6 BILLION FOR MARCH 2021
CI Financial Corp. has released preliminary assets under management as at March 31, 2021, of $138.5-billion and wealth management assets of $102.1-billion, for total assets of $240.6-billion. These represent CI's highest-ever month-end levels for wealth management assets and total assets.
"We believe the growth in assets to record levels reflects our success in implementing our strategic priorities of modernizing asset management, expanding CI's wealth management platform and globalizing the firm," said Kurt MacAlpine, CI chief executive officer. "Notably, we are seeing improvement in asset management net flows, with the first quarter being our best quarter for net flows since the third quarter of 2017. We believe this is attributable to the many client-focused changes we have made, including the integration of our investment management platform, introduction of our new sales and marketing strategy powered by advanced analytics, and our new product management strategy."
Total assets increased by $4.2-billion or 1.8 per cent in the month of March and by $84.9-billion or 54.5 per cent from March 31, 2020, reflecting CI's acquisitions in U.S. and Canadian wealth management and market growth over the past 12 months.
Wealth management assets grew by $2.1-billion or 2.1 per cent in the month of March and by $57.5-billion or 128.9 per cent year over year. Canadian wealth management assets at $71.1-billion were up 2.3 per cent in March and up 61.2 per cent from one year ago. Canadian wealth management assets consist of the assets of CI Assante Wealth Management, Aligned Capital Partners Inc., CI Private Counsel LP, and CI Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.
U.S. wealth management assets grew by 1.6 per cent in March to $31-billion. This includes the assets of CI's network of 10 registered investment adviser firms across the United States. During the first quarter, CI announced agreements to acquire three RIAs -- Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC of Chicago, Barrett Asset Management LLC of New York and Brightworth LLC of Atlanta. The transactions are expected to add approximately $39-billion in assets1 to CI's U.S. business and are scheduled to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory, stock exchange and other customary closing conditions.
CI's total assets under management were $138.5-billion, representing growth of $2.1-billion or 1.5 per cent in March and $27.4-billion or 24.7 per cent from a year ago. Core assets under management, which are those managed by CI's Canadian and Australian subsidiaries, were up 1.5 per cent in February and 19.4 per cent year over year to $132.6-billion. Core average assets under management for the first quarter were $131.6-billion, a 4.3 per cent increase over the average of $126.2-billion for the fourth quarter of 2020.
CI also reported preliminary sales results for the first quarter. CI's Canadian retail business, excluding products closed to new investors, had $600-million in net redemptions, an improvement of $700-million over both the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2020. CI's Canadian institutional business had net redemptions of $400-million, an improvement of $500-million over the fourth quarter of 2020 and an improvement of $400-million from the same quarter a year ago.
CI's U.S. asset management business, which consists of certain assets managed by its U.S. RIAs, had net sales of $300-million, while GSFM Pty. Ltd.'s net flows were flat. CI's closed business, comprising primarily segregated fund contracts that are no longer available for sale, had $200-million in net redemptions for the quarter.
Further information about CI's assets and financial position can be found in the attached tables of statistics and on the company's website.