Bank of Montreal’s asset management arm hired 13 portfolio managers, analysts and traders from CI Financial Corp. as the bank pushes ahead with the expansion of its Canadian business. 

The new Toronto-based global equity team includes specialists in health care, technology, industrials, financials and consumer stocks, according to a statement Monday. 

“These experienced professionals with a strong investment track record will help us further broaden our in-house capabilities, innovate, be a market leader and deliver for our clients,” Chief Investment Officer Sadiq Adatia said in the statement. 

CI Financial was down 1.4 per cent to $14.55 at 12:35 p.m. in Toronto. The shares have fallen more than 45 per cent this year. Bank of Montreal rose 0.9 per cent. 

The group includes veteran CI portfolio managers Jeff Elliott, Malcolm White, Jeremy Yeung and John Hadwen. The 13 employees collectively managed $20 billion (US$15.6 billion) of assets, according to the statement. 

The new global equity team is part of a group of 50 new hires in BMO Global Asset Management in areas such as equities, bonds, quantitative investing and trading.


MASS DEPARTURES

The departures were communicated more than four months ago, and there have been no redemptions resulting from the changes, CI’s spokesman Murray Oxby said in an emailed statement. 

“Currently, CI’s asset management business is comprised of more than 100 investment professionals who are fully aligned with our integrated, team-based global platform,” he said.

Toronto-based CI has been aggressively making deals to expand its wealth-management business in the US, building a network of registered investment advisers, or RIAs. The firm has said it plans to spin off its US wealth business into a separate public company after more than 30 acquisitions, piling up $144 billion of assets as of June. 

The wealth unit -- which also includes a smaller business in Canada -- has surpassed the size of CI’s investment management arm, which stood at $116 billion in June. 

“Since restructuring our asset management business from a boutique to an integrated, team-based model, we delivered the best investment performance we’ve had in years,” Oxby, the CI spokesman, said.