CI Financial said it will sell up to 20% of its U.S. wealth management business via an initial public offering.
The Toronto-based company will file a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission later this year for a U.S. IPO, the firm said in a news release Thursday.
CI Financial began acquiring U.S. wealth managers in early in 2020 and has acquired 23 firms to date.
The U.S. wealth management unit now is CI's largest, according to the release. Once pending transactions are completed, assets under management in CI's U.S. wealth business will total C$166 billion (US$133 billion).
CI will remain the majority shareholder in the U.S. wealth management business.
"The growth of our U.S. wealth management business is incredible. However, in our opinion, the value we have created isn't reflected in our share price today," said Kurt MacAlpine, CI's CEO, in the release. "We are confident that a U.S.-listed subsidiary IPO is the best route to shareholder value creation."
CI Financial said in the release that it will use net proceeds from the IPO to pay down debt.
CI Financial had a total of C$370.2 billion in AUM as of Feb. 28.
A final decision on the size of the IPO, conditions and timing is pending and will be subject to market conditions, the release said.