TORONTO - The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) made a big play to expand its customer base on Thursday with a deal to acquire financial adviser MD Financial Management for $2.59 billion.

The company provides financial planning, insurance, banking, investment and estate and trust services to 45,000 Canadian doctors and 65,000 of their family members with more than $49 billion in assets under management and administration.

Scotiabank CEO Brian Porter told BNN Bloomberg on Friday that the bank sees the acquisition as a rare opportunity.

“Assets like this don’t come on the market very often,” Porter said. “These businesses tend to be sold, not bought. And, it’s something we had our eye on, and the timing was right.”

He added the MD deal fits as part of a longer-term acquisition strategy.

“When we look at these acquisitions, it’s not just an: ‘Are they accretive next year?’ and ‘what’s the impact to the bank [mindset]?’” Porter told BNN Bloomberg.

“We think of it in the span of: ‘What does it do for our bank and our customers over a five-year, seven-year, 10-year horizon.’”

The acquisition is part of a $7-billion spending spree the bank has been on in recent months.

The bank purchased a 68 per cent stake in Chilean banking operation BBVA Chile for $2.9 billion and Citibank's consumer and small and medium enterprise operations in January for an undisclosed amount.

It also bought Canadian investment manager Jarislowsky Fraser for $950 million in February, and a controlling interest in Peru's Banco Cencosud for about $130 million in May.

Porter told BNN Bloomberg he doesn’t expect any more major moves for the bank in the immediate future.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of execution and integrations now,” he said. “So, I think we’ll be fairly quiet on the acquisition front.”

Scotiabank's MD acquisition will be partially funded by a $1.5-billion public offering of 19.7 million common shares at $76.15 per share that's expected to close on or after June 8.

The acquisition will also include a $115-million investment from the bank over the next 10 years to support the advancement of the medical profession and health care in Canada, and a 10-year collaboration that will see the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) exclusively promote MD's services as the preferred provider of financial products to physicians.

MD Financial's President and CEO told BNN Bloomberg that there's another angle to the deal and his company's partnership with CMA that will prove beneficial.

"One of the interesting parts of the deal was the fact that now the CMA is not requiring membership for us to be able to deal with our clients," Brian Peters told BNN Bloomberg on Friday. "So, as of today, we can market and sell to the universe of all Canadian physicians."

The bank said MD will operate as a stand-alone brand within its wealth management branch.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, but is expected to close in fall.

- with files from BNN Bloomberg