The companies have inked an agreement to buy the mortgage giant
Brookfield Asset Management has announced a blockbuster deal to acquire First National Financial, partnering with Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc. in a $2.9 billion swoop for the mortgage giant.
The agreement, announced in a press release last night, arrives after First National’s board shopped the company to multiple buyers and reportedly received a series of offers.
Jason Ellis, First National’s chief executive officer and a well-known figure in the mortgage industry, is expected to stay in his post and “lead the business in all aspects of its operations,” the companies said.
Other key executives are also set to remain in place after the transaction, which is subject to majority approval of other voting shareholders, is completed.
First National’s founders, billionaire Stephen Smith and Moray Tawse, will sell two-thirds of their current shareholdings in the company and keep an indirect interest of about 19%.
The company has emerged as a prominent force in Canada’s mortgage market over the past decade, cementing its reputation as one of the leading lenders outside the country’s traditional Big Five lenders – TD, CIBC, Scotiabank, RBC, and BMO.
Ellis described the news as “the start of an exciting new chapter” for First National, and highlighted the buyers’ track record in the Canadian financial services industry.
The deal is expected to get over the finished line in the fourth quarter of this year, the companies said, when shareholder, court and regulatory approvals have been secured.
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