(Bloomberg) — Canadian mutual fund manager CI Financial Corp . plans to go private in a C$4.7 billion ($3.4 billion) deal backed by Mubadala Capital, one of the largest ever privatizations of an Abu Dhabi entity in the financial sector.
Shareholders of Toronto-based CI will be offered C$32 per share in cash, a 33% premium to last week's closing price. The company will remain headquartered in Canada and insiders will dump some of their shares in the private company, according to a statement on Monday.
CI shares were up 30% at C$31.25 as of 9:52 a.m. in Toronto.
Mubadala Capital is an alternative asset manager owned by Mubadala Investment Co., one of several Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth funds that oversee more than $1.5 trillion in assets and have spent billions of dollars to expand their influence in the global scene.
Mubadala closed the acquisition of Fortress Investment Group earlier this year in a deal that was examined by US officials, Bloomberg News reported. The CI deal is big enough to need it aPPROVAL by the government of Canada, which has sought to strengthen its assessments of investment from foreign state-owned businesses.
Despite their vast financial resources, Abu Dhabi-based investors have sometimes struggled to strike cross-border deals. Early considerations to buy Standard Chartered Plc and Lazard Ltd. early last year, for example, ultimately proved unsuccessful.
CI had $518 billion in client assets as of Sept. 30 and is one of Canada's largest sellers of retail mutual funds not owned by a major bank or insurance company. Chief Executive Kurt MacAlpine will continue to lead the firm.
“Mubadala Capital invests with a long-term perspective and represents long-term capital – providing stability and security for CI's customers and employees,” he said in the statement.
A little less than half of CI's client assets are managed by its US wealth management division, Corient. This division consists of a large network of registered investment advisory firms that the Canadian company has amassed in an acquisition spree over the past several years.
CI brought in 30 RIAs between the end of 2019 and 2022. CI nearly tripled its debt over that period to $4.1 billion, prompting S&P Global Ratings to cut out the signature in the waste in May 2023.
CI subsequently sold a 20% stake in Corient to a group of investors including Bain Capital LP and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The proceeds, $1 billion, were used to repay bonds and loans, allowing CI to reduce its leverage. But the deal also took some criticism by analysts for its structure, which included convertible preferred stock that gave outside investors a guaranteed return.
During the third quarter, Corient completed the acquisition of two more RIAs with combined assets of $8.1 billion. CI previously talked about going public with Corient, and MacAlpine told analysts earlier this month that it may revive those plans in 2026.
Including debt, the Mubadala Capital deal implies a total value for CI of C$12.1 billion. CI Financial will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange following the closing of the transaction, but the company will remain a reporting issuer in Canada due to outstanding obligations and notes.
The deal was unanimously approved by CI's independent directors in a board committee. The company's previously declared dividends will be paid, but future dividends will be suspended.