Scotiabank's review of ECN's acquisitionOUR TAKE: With the ink barely dry following the close of the Service Finance acquisition, ECN announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Triad Financial for C$125M. That said, management had stated that it was likely to complete one or two additional deals by Q4/17 or early Q1/18, so while a bit earlier than anticipated, the announcement does not come as a complete surprise. We are positive on ECN's acquisition of Triad Financial. The deal appears consistent with the company's strategy to transform from a balance sheet commercial lender to a more capital light platform focused on the specialty vendor finance segment with earnings driven by an "originate to sell and service" business model. The transaction is roughly 20% accretive to our 2018 EPS estimates and supports additional earnings visibility and provides another concrete example of capital deployment aligned with its strategic vision as its "next generation" model further crystalizes. Maintain $5.00 target and Sector Outperform rating. Despite solid year-to-date stock performance, ECN currently trades at an almost 20% discount to book value despite high levels of optionality. With a one-year expected rate of return of ~30%, we maintain our SO rating