Royal Bank of Canada's U.S. institutional asset management unit, Voyageur Asset Management Inc. of Minneapolis, plans further U.S. expansion through acquisitions and new products, one of its executives said.
John M. Huber, Voyageur's senior managing director and chief investment officer of fixed income, said that the unit would seek acquisition deals similar to the one it announced Tuesday for Access Capital Strategies LLC of Boston.
"We are going to continue to look for ways to benefit our shareholders and look for individuals, teams, or, as in this case, firms that can help us execute our strategy," Mr. Huber said during an interview on Wednesday. "We want to continue to look at acquisitions that make sense for us."
Voyageur, which came with Royal Bank of Canada's 2000 acquisition of Dain Rauscher, has more than doubled its assets under management, to $34 billion, under Royal Bank of Canada, including a 13.3% increase last year.
Mr. Huber said that he expects Voyageur, a division of RBC Wealth Management, to maintain double-digit growth over the next few years.
Access Capital, with $650 million of assets under management, provides fixed-income socially responsible investment portfolios, including both a mutual fund and separately managed accounts with socially responsible features.
Mr. Huber called Access Capital a "strong strategic and cultural fit" for Voyageur, which has been subadvising the Boston company's socially responsible fund, the Access Capital Strategies Community Investment Fund, since the product was introduced.
Socially responsible investing — the practice of investing in companies based on their corporate policies surrounding environmentalism, consumer protection, quality, and diversity and avoiding businesses involved in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons and the military industry — has become a top priority for Royal Bank of Canada since it introduced three such funds in Canada last year, the RBC Jantzi Funds, Mr. Huber said.
"We really want to expand our socially responsible investment portfolio and provide more of these types of products to pension funds, foundations, investment organizations, and public funds that want to responsibly invest certain assets," he said.
Voyageur, founded in 1983, provides fixed-income and equity portfolio asset management. It has investment offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston.
"We have a national group of clients across the board, from pension funds to foundations and endowments to individuals, but the Access acquisition will be critical in terms of building our reputation for effective investing in an economically targeted fashion without sacrificing returns," Mr. Huber said.
He said that Voyageur will consider adding more products to its lineup in the United States, including potentially some socially responsible funds.
"If there are new vehicles or strategies that make sense, we will look for those opportunities if we think that the demand is there from our clients," he said.
Royal Bank of Canada has been an active buyer of wealth management companies both in Canada and the United States.
In May it bought Phillips, Hager and North Investment Management Ltd. of Vancouver, which had $68.2 billion of assets under management, for $350 million.
"Obviously, that deal is on a different scale," Mr. Huber said. "But it indicates that RBC continues to look at acquisitions that make sense."
The price of the Access Capital deal, which is expected to close by the end of July, was not disclosed.
Access Capital's top executives would report to Mr. Huber.
