The Canadian wealth manager Richardson GMP has acquired the Macquarie Group's Canadian retail business, in a move to become Canada’s largest wealth management firm.

Macquarie Private Wealth will be sold to Richardson GMP for a price of about C$132 million ($127.2 million) in a deal that will nearly double the firm’s assets under administration to C$28 billion ($26.98 billion).

The deal marks a significant retreat from Canada by Australian investment bank Macquarie, which recently made major cuts to its Canadian capital markets unit.

Recent months have seen several independent retail brokerages battle against Canadian banks for business, as the smaller firms lost a collective $99 million last year in income, according to the Investment Industry Association of Canada. Consequently, firms are merging to shoulder expenses and recruit high-performing employees in a move to improve competition.

“The wealth management industry in Canada has been dynamic over the last few years,” explained Andrew Marsh, president and chief executive of Richardson GMP.

“By making this acquisition Richardson GMP is showing that we can compete with larger institutions, while maintaining a boutique culture.”

The Macquarie unit is being sold with more than 185 advisor teams in 12 offices in Canada, and C$12.9 billion ($12.4 billion) of assets under administration. While integrating these operations with its 116 advisor teams, Richardson GMP will also expand through additional hiring, Marsh said.

Macquarie Capital Markets Canada, the other half of Macquarie’s Canadian business, will not be affected by the deal.

Richardson GMP will sell new shares to raise cash for the deal, which is expected to close before the end of the year, pending regulatory approval.