On December 12, 2017, The CUMIS Group, Cooperators, and Desjardin Group announced a deal to merge subsidiary companies with five Provincial Credit Union Centrals to form one of Canada’s largest independent wealth management firms. The new entity, Aviso Wealth, will be half owned by Desjardins and half owned by a limited partnership comprised of the Centrals Credit Unions and the CUMIS Group, a subsidiary of Co-operators Life Insurance Company with a minority interest held by Central 1 Credit Union. Other subsidiaries involved are Credential Financial Inc., Qtrade Canada Inc. and NEI Investments, The Credit Union Centrals represent about 300 credit unions across the country.
The transaction brings more than 500,000 clients throughout Canada and more than $55 billion in combined client assets under single management.
Fasken acted for The Co-operators Group and The CUMIS Group with a team led by Robert McDowell, Koker Christensen and Craig Bellefontaine.
