egolinews.com

Macquarie Group Limited (MQG) today said it had acquired Canadian wealth management company, Blackmont Capital for C$93.3 million ($95.1 million). The all-cash transaction was expected to close in the first quarter of 2010 and remains subject to regulatory approval, Macquarie said.

The acquisition continues a string of international acquisitions by the Australian bank in recent months.

On 30 September Macquarie said it would pay US$130 million for US investment bank Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Cariona Waller.

In August Macquarie said it would pay over half a billion dollars for another US firm, Delaware Investments.

Looking at today’s acquisition, global head of Macquarie’s banking and financial services group, Peter Maher, said the investment house, with C$7.6 billion of assets under administration would complement other Macquarie businesses in Canada.

“Macquarie has been involved in the Canadian financial services market for 12 years and we’re attracted to the market’s well-established advisor model, its transparency and innovative product mix,” Mr Maher said.

Blackmont will become part of Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services Group, will be rebranded “Macquarie Private Wealth” and would continue to be run by the current Blackstone CEO, Bruce Kagan.

The Canadian investment house currently has over 450 employees, including 130 advisors. Macquarie Group, upon completion of the deal, have around 1,000 employees in Canada, the bank said.

Meanwhile, the impact on Macquarie’s regulatory capital surplus as a result of the acquisition is anticipated to be immaterial.

At the close Monday, Macquarie shares were trading at $53.20.

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