Great-West Partners With Sagard Holdings
Great-West Lifeco (GWO) announced Thursday that it has agreed to establish a long-term strategic partnership with Sagard Holdings.
The partnership includes the sale to Sagard of its Colorado-based subsidiaries, EverWest Real Estate Investors, LLC, and Everwest Advisors, LLC, as well as a capital commitment of up to approximately $500 million from Great-West in certain funds of Sagard.
In return, Great-West will acquire a minority interest in Sagard Holdings Management Inc., a subsidiary of Sagard. Great-West Lifeco is an international financial services holding company.
As part of the transaction, Lifeco has committed to invest an additional approximately $2 billion in real estate-related investments to support the future growth of EverWest within Sagard.
Great-West president and CEO Paul Mahon said, "This transaction will advance Lifeco's strategy to further broaden its access to alternative investment options. It will provide enhanced access to Sagard's diversified asset classes, complementing our existing investment teams. The result will be broader, more diversified options for clients and our general account."
The transaction is conditional on the satisfaction of closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of 2021. (See Insiders' Hot Stocks on TipRanks)
Two months ago, National Bank Financial analyst Gabriel Dechaine maintained a Hold rating on GWO, while raising its price target to C$38 (from C$37). This implies 2.1% downside potential.
Consensus on the Street is that GWO is a Hold based on one Buy and seven Holds. The average Great-West Lifeco price target of C$39.88 implies 2.8% upside potential.
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