Private-client investment manager Cumberland PWM acquires Wirth Associates. Toronto-based direct-to-client asset manager Cumberland Private Wealth Management (Cumberland PWM) has acquired Wirth Associates, another Toronto-based boutique that provides investment-management services to high-net-worth clients and small institutions. Cumberland, which invests in "undervalued" North American companies "across a wide range of sectors," says it acquired Wirth in order to broaden its investment program to include global offerings.

Cumberland PWM manages about $1.7 billion (U.S.); Wirth manages about an eighth as much. The financial terms of their merger haven't been made public. This deal represents Cumberland PWM's first acquisition.

Secular trends

"It is of strategic importance for Cumberland to position itself for the future and offer its high net worth clientele a broader choice of investments in global markets," says Gerald Connor, chairman and CEO of Cumberland Private Wealth Management.

Cumberland PWM's CIO John Poulter says that "emerging secular trends throughout South East Asia, Eastern Europe and other markets indicate that this is an appropriate and opportune time to diversify our approach into those markets."

Wirth Associates' founder Alfred Wirth, who will join Cumberland PWM's management team and its board of directors, says the two firms are culturally compatible and have similar investment styles. But Wirth, which was founded in 1992, has been investing in non-U.S. and non-Canadian companies for the better part of a decade. "[We're both] striving for superior absolute rates of return over the long term," he says.

Wirth also differs from Cumberland PWM in being registered as an investment advisory in the U.S. (as well as Canada) and in having a few U.S.-based clients. However, says Cumberland PWM spokeswoman Alexandra von Schroeter, the newly combined firm plans to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission "as soon as the dust from this transaction settles" -- specifically with a view to bringing in more U.S. business. -FWR

.