WisdomTree Enters into Agreement to Sell Canadian Asset Management Business

WisdomTree Asset Management Canada to be sold to CI Financial Corp.

WisdomTree to continue to license its indexes to the Funds

WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index ETF to terminate

With the exception of the closure of WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index ETF, WisdomTree and CI Financial anticipate no changes to the Funds.

NEW YORK, Nov. 07, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (“WisdomTree”) (NASDAQ: WETF), an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and exchange-traded product (“ETP”) sponsor and asset manager, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Canadian subsidiary, WisdomTree Asset Management Canada, Inc. (“WisdomTree Canada”), to CI Financial Corp. (TSX:CIX)  – an independent Canadian company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services.

WisdomTree CEO Jonathan Steinberg said, “We have had a lot of success in the Canadian market over the past three years. This transaction allows us to benefit from the scale and resources of CI Financial and participate more cost effectively in the continued growth of the Canadian ETF market by providing index licenses for each of the WisdomTree Canada funds that currently track WisdomTree’s proprietary indexes.”

Under the terms of the agreement, CI Financial would acquire all of the outstanding shares of WisdomTree Canada thereby enabling CI to continue to operate the business, consisting primarily of the management and promotion of the WisdomTree Canada funds. Consideration for the transaction will range from CDN $7 to $13 million in cash, depending on the achievement of certain AUM growth targets over the next three years. CDN $5 million will be paid upfront, subject to purchase price adjustments at closing.

The transaction is subject to unitholder approval of the WisdomTree Canada funds and customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

WisdomTree Canada also announced that it will be terminating WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index ETF on or about January 31, 2020 in accordance with the terms of its declaration of trust.  Unitholders of WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index ETF will receive an amount equal to the net asset value per Non-Hedged Unit or Hedged Unit, as the case may be, on the effective date of termination.  It is anticipated that the Units of the Fund will be voluntarily delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange on or about January 24, 2020 at the close of trading.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on WisdomTree’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to its management. Although WisdomTree believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or its future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause its actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond WisdomTree’s control and which could materially affect results. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, the parties’ ability to complete the transaction in a timely manner (if at all), including the satisfaction of various closing conditions.  In addition, the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in the section entitled “Risk Factors” included in WisdomTree’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and information contained in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission could affect actual results. 

The forward-looking statements in this press release represent WisdomTree’s views as of the date of this press release. WisdomTree anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change. However, while WisdomTree may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it has no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law.  Therefore, these forward-looking statements do not represent WisdomTree’s views as of any date other than the date of this press release.

About WisdomTree

WisdomTree Investments, Inc., through its subsidiaries in the U.S., Europe and Canada (collectively, “WisdomTree”), is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and exchange-traded product (“ETP”) sponsor and asset manager headquartered in New York.  WisdomTree offers products covering equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and alternative strategies.  WisdomTree currently has approximately $62.6 billion in assets under management globally. 

WisdomTree® is the marketing name for WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its subsidiaries worldwide.

Contact Information:

Investor Relations

WisdomTree Investments, Inc.

Jason Weyeneth, CFA

+1.917.267.3858

Media Relations

WisdomTree Investments, Inc.

Jessica Zaloom

+1.917.267.3735