CI Financial, the Canadian asset management firm that has been on a multi-year acquisition streak of U.S.-based registered investment advisors, has rebranded its U.S. wealth business, CI Private Wealth, to Corient, a name derived from one of the RIAs the company has acquired.
Effective immediately, legacy RIAs will no longer be able to co-brand alongside the firm; all U.S. offices will now operate under the Corient brand. The company’s Canadian-based ultra-high-net-worth wealth management businesses will continue to use the CI Private Wealth name.
The rebrand is part of the CI’s effort to integrate all its U.S. wealth businesses into one RIA firm. A CI spokesperson said Corient has largely adopted a single ADV for its businesses.
“Non-client-facing functions such as IT, operations, finance, marketing HR, legal and compliance now have centralized structures, while we have introduced enhanced services that include an in-house trust company, a tax practice and others,” the spokesperson said. “The integration of the business and its unique partnership structure also allow for clients to benefit from the expertise and collaboration of advisors and specialists across the firm.”
In April CI’s U.S. wealth division formed its own trust company in South Dakota. An “array” of corporate trustee services are now available to all Corient advisors around the country to offer clients. The trust’s “preferred” approach is to stick to administration while leaving responsibility for investing assets inside the trust up to the advisors, according to the announcement. The corporate trust company can accommodate various trust structures, including investments, business interests and natural resource interests.
“The new name better reflects the extensive capabilities we offer today as a national, integrated organization and our vision to become the country’s pre-eminent private wealth firm,” said CEO Kurt MacAlpine, in a statement.
“In the short time since our founding, we have accomplished much on behalf of our clients that would not have been possible for most independent firms,” he said. “We established a tax practice and a trust company, we have delivered better investment pricing and lending rates, and we significantly strengthened our alternative investments platform.”
Since entering the U.S. wealth management sector in January 2020, Toronto-based CI Financial has acquired dozens of firms in the United States. Today, the U.S. wealth business oversees some $147 billion in assets.
In late 2022, CI Financial filed an S-1 with the SEC to take the U.S. company public and subsequently delisted the Canadian business from the New York Stock Exchange in January. Then in May, CI announced plans to sell a 20% stake in the U.S. wealth unit to a group of investors, including Bain Capital and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, giving that business an enterprise value of about $5.3 billion, according to Bloomberg. The company still intends to take the unit public.
