by Tom Bradley

We are excited to announce that Steadyhand has accepted an offer to join Purpose Unlimited, an innovative and growing wealth and investment management firm. Subject to regulatory and unitholder approval, Purpose will acquire Steadyhand with the goal of expanding our wealth management capabilities and enhancing our ability to serve your investment needs.

Why we’re doing this

We initiated the search for a partner to find a firm that had the resources to help us broaden our ability to serve clients, achieve our ambition to serve more Canadians, and provide additional opportunities for our team. The Purpose/Steadyhand combination is about building on our strengths and fulfilling our goal to better serve Canadian investors of all sizes. It’s not about cost-cutting and rationalization.

The reason we chose to work with Purpose was their excitement for our approach to wealth management and our shared commitment to providing advice to all Canadians. Most other firms are focused on clients with millions of dollars. Purpose shares our passion for offering Canadians an alternative to traditional bank branches or advisors who may not fully understand their needs and service expectations.

Who is Purpose?

Purpose Unlimited is an independent Canadian financial services company led by well-known entrepreneur Som Seif. The firm’s mission is to be the customer-focused leader that the financial services industry needs. Purpose is developing a diversified product platform aimed to innovate and create the next generation of asset management, wealth management, and banking technology. The firm’s businesses include Purpose Investments, which offers a broad range of investment products; Advisor Solutions, which provides platforms to support advisor-client relationships; and Driven, a lender supporting small businesses across Canada.

Benefits to Steadyhand Clients

Over time, Purpose will help us enhance our offering in several key areas:

• Enhanced investment management: Combining the two businesses will allow clients to benefit from Purpose’s investment management capabilities, which include market leadership in retirement products and goal-based solutions.
• Improved online tools and client experience: Purpose’s expertise will enable us to improve our online tools (including our client portal) and overall client experience. 
• Increased resources: The combination of Purpose and Steadyhand will enhance our team’s ability to do what they do best, which is provide responsive service, investment advice and, most importantly, a steady hand. 
• Succession planning: The management depth and experience of Purpose will help us better address the challenge of succession that hovers over every small, independent firm.

Next Steps

Before we move ahead with Purpose, we need regulatory and unitholder approval. We expect this process will take 60-90 days, although there are no guarantees. Until that happens and the deal is finalized, you won’t see any changes to our business.

If the deal is consummated, management’s intention is to move slowly initially as we get to know each other and determine how to best take advantage of each company’s strengths. I want to emphasize that Purpose is excited about acquiring our firm because of the people behind it, and it’s their intention to keep all Steadyhand employees. As for me? While I may be getting up in years, I’m excited about the partnership and plan to play an important role in the transition phase over the next year.

As we finalize the details, we’ll have more information to share. In the meantime, please visit our dedicated webpage, which includes an FAQ, press release, and other details about the offer. If you have any questions, please call us at 1-888-888-3147 or book a meeting with one of our Investor Specialists.