Dundee to expand wealth management business

TORONTO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Dundee Goodman Private Wealth, a unit of Dundee Securities Ltd, said on Monday a group of about 60 investment advisers and their staff are transferring to Dundee from Richardson GMP.

The move will greatly expand Dundee's wealth management unit giving the firm more than 100 investment advisers across Canada managing portfolios valued at more than $6 billion.

"This transaction marks a valuable addition to our growing wealth management business, thereby cementing our position as a strong and independently owned Canadian securities firm," said Jonathan Goodman, chief executive of Dundee Capital Markets in a statement.

Under the agreement, Dundee will take over former Macquarie Private Wealth offices in Ottawa, Montreal, and Victoria. And a more limited transfer of investment advisors will take place from Richardson GMP offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto to Dundee Goodman's offices in those cities.

Richardson GMP, in which financial services firm GMP Capital

GMP.TO owns a non-controlling ownership interest, was expected to lose some investment advisers following its agreement to buy Macquarie Canada's Private Wealth unit for about C$132 million ($121.5 million) last September.

All the advisers transferring to Dundee joined Richardson GMP as part of its acquisition of Macquarie Private Wealth.

"We identified certain advisor businesses within Macquarie that were not a good fit with our business model," said Andrew Marsh, chief executive of Richardson GMP in a separate release.

"We considered several options and are confident that this arrangement with Dundee offers the best outcome and opportunities for everyone involved, including clients."

($1 = 1.0866 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Bernard Orr)

((euan.rocha@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 416 941 8185)(Reuters Messaging: euan.rocha.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: DUNDEEGOODMAN RICHARDSON/