Raymond James Financial, Inc.’s RJF dormant M&A activities seem to have come alive with the latest announcement of acquiring the Toronto-based Cougar Global Investments Ltd. Cougar is a Canadian asset manager with nearly $1 billion in assets under management.
The news comes as a breather for Raymond James’ M&A activities, which had taken a back seat over the last 2 years. The company, with a history of growing through inorganic routes, surprisingly made no major acquisitions during this period. The last major deal in that line was that of Morgan Keegan & Co. for $930 million in 2012; after which the company closed a minor acquisition, that of the San Diego-based ClariVest Asset Management for $8.8 million.
Nevertheless, with the latest acquisition, Raymond James looks forward to enhance its Canadian footprints, based on expectations of growth opportunities in the area.
Post the acquisition, Cougar will become the wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond James and a sub-advisor to Eagle. However, no other terms of the deal were disclosed.
Further, as part of the acquisition, Eagle Asset Management, the wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond James, will gain access to Cougar’s proprietary investment process. This technique adopts a tactical asset allocation and downside-risk-management approach to safeguard its clients from downturn in markets, apart from meeting individual investment objectives.
We believe access to Cougar’s proprietary process would help Raymond James serve clients in a better way. Moreover, increasing international footprints are expected to boost the company’s overall revenues. Also, signs of a revival in the company’s M&A activities keep us encouraged.
Currently, Raymond James carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked investment brokers include, Investment Technology Group Inc. ITG, JMP Group LLC JMP and GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. GCAP.
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