By Michelle Schriver
A new wealth group has launched an independent portfolio management business that combines four firms, extends across the border and is backed by U.S. private equity.
Sonance Financial Inc. brings together partner firms from Alberta, Ontario and Arizona, serving more than 1,400 families and having about $2.3 billion in combined assets, a release on Tuesday said.
The four founding firms are JV Financial in Edmonton, Advantage Financial Services Inc. in Lethbridge, Alta., Sona Wealth Counsel in Ottawa, and Transition Financial Advisors Group Inc. in Arizona, which specializes in Canada-U.S. planning and investment services.
Together, the firms “bring expertise in retirement, estate and tax planning; fiduciary investment advice; and Canada-U.S. financial planning in a partnership service model under a single national brand,” the release said.
Sonance CEO is Toronto-based Danielle Skipp, previously a managing director with Nicola Wealth.
Portfolio management is provided in Canada through Sonance Wealth Partners Ltd., and in the U.S. and Canada through Transition Financial Advisors.
Each firm maintains its identity “while contributing its strengths to something bigger,” Brian Wruk, president of Transition Financial Advisors, said in a LinkedIn post. “For our clients, this means access to additional technical, tax and investment expertise on both sides of the border,” he wrote. “Our team will also contribute cross-border expertise and fresh planning ideas across the alliance.”
In the release, Advantage founder Ryan Peterson described the new firm as the future of independent wealth management in Canada.
“We founded Sonance to gain more operational control,” Peterson said. “We have designed and implemented the technology that will allow us to deliver exceptional service to our clients.” The new partnership “gives us the opportunity to leverage best practices of an expanded group across the country while preserving our service model, our client relationships and our approach to managing our clients’ portfolios.”
In an interview, Skipp described the partner groups as “independently connected.” Operational integration is “part of the access to scale that we need to achieve together.” During the past year, a “modern end-to-end technology stack” was developed, she said.
Tom Ryan, founder of Sona and now Sonance COO, said in the release that the partnership strengthens commitment to the principles of “independence, advice from qualified professionals, and that the client must be at the centre of everything we do.” Miami-headquartered Trivest Partners Corp., which has about $6 billion in assets under management, according to the release, is backing the new advisory firm. The private equity partner focuses on founder-led and family-owned businesses across North America.
Independent wealth firms in Canada have been attracting investment from big private equity firms, which supports growth for the wealth firms and provides liquidity events for their advisors and other shareholders.
The formation of the group began with Trivest and Advantage, Skipp said. The two firms “created a vision to bring advisory firms that were founder-owned and operated — independents — together.” She was subsequently recruited to helm the firm.
Trivest’s investment — the amount wasn’t disclosed — represents an expanded focus for the private equity firm. “This is a new industry vertical they got excited about,” Skipp said, adding that Trivest is experienced with professional services firms. In early conversations, “it was clear to me that they had really educated themselves on the regulatory framework in Canada … and they had made a decision to be a registered portfolio management firm.”
Skipp said Sonance ownership extends to employees. She also noted that the partnership helps address advisor succession. “The younger advisor coming up doesn’t necessarily have access to financing to allow that value exchange” with a retiring advisor, she said. “That is another thing our business model facilitates.”
Sonance has plans for additional near-term growth. “We’re four partner groups right now,” Skipp said. “We plan to be eight sometime next year.”
Potential candidates are firms across Canada that “lead with a planning-first philosophy [and] integrate portfolio management to achieve the client outcomes,” she said.
This story was updated on Oct. 27 with comments from Danielle Skipp.