Ontario Teachers snaps up £255m stake in London wealth manager
Ontario Teacher Pensions Plan has snapped up a majority stake in London-based Seven Investment Management (7IM) for £255m today as it continues its swoop on private British companies.
The Canadian pension giant, which has £249bn assets under management and built a reputation for splashy bets on private firms, announced this morning it has struck a deal to buy a stake in the investment manager from British firm Caledonia Investments.
Set up in 2002, 7IM has some £21bn assets under management on behalf of more than 2,300 financial advisory firms and 7000 private clients across the UK.
The deal marks OTPP’s latest raid on British companies after leading a number of major rounds into UK-based firms over the past two years.
Among its recent investments are buying a 25 per cent stake in the electricity transmission business of Scotland-based energy provider as well as investments into growth tech companies and leading a £210m round into .
In a statement today, OTPP chief Iñaki Echave, senior managing director at Ontario Teachers’ said the investment could now herald a number of new deals for 7IM.
“7IM is one of the highest-quality, fast-growing financial services platforms in Europe and a perfect example of our strategy to make control investments in our high-conviction sectors,” he added.
“We intend to leverage our sector expertise and flexible capital to accelerate 7IM’s growth organically and through M&A. We look forward to helping 7IM’s first-class management team to fulfil their ambitious growth plans.”
OTPP is now eyeing a major push into UK wealth management and the deal will give the firm a platform for long-term capital and “expertise to help execute its growth plans over the next decade”, it added in a statement
7IM chief Dean Proctor said the firm was now “well positioned for our next phase of growth” alongside OTPP.
The deal is subject to approvals from the Financial Conduct Authority and is expected to go through in late 2023 or early 2024.
The deal brings to an end Caledonia’s ownership of the firm after it snapped up a stake in September 2015. Cash from the sale is now set to be held on deposit for future investment, Caledonia said today.
Caledonia has pocketed a hefty premium on its stake in the firm. In its audited accounts at the end of March, the firm judged its stake in 7IM to be worth £187.1m, excluding a further £13.2m which will be invested into the business prior to completion of the deal.