Independent strategy, remarkable success

Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc., a seven-year-old Winnipeg firm, has achieved unprecedented growth, with a compounded annual growth rate that would make it a leader in the much more competitive U.S. market.

It has done this by building a platform that attracts advisers from other firms, mostly bank-owned ones, which dominate the market.

And whereas Wellington-Altus, founded in 2017 by Charlie Spiring and three partners, is at about $31.8 billion in assets under administration, it’s currently recruiting advisers who might be managing portfolios as large as 10 figures.

By comparison Spiring’s previous entrepreneurial creation, Wellington West Capital, was at about $10 billion in assets under administration when it was sold to National Bank Financial in 2011 for $333 million.

Spiring, 65, has a talented team of people working with him, deploying leading-edge technology, but his irrepressible enthusiasm for the business of managing money helps make Wellington-Altus an employment magnet for other successful, like-minded investment advisers.

After launching from scratch with just one other adviser group and Spiring’s own book of business (even when he became vice-chairman of National Bank after it acquired Wellington West Spiring remained hands-on, managing a large book of business with a longtime client base) Wellington-Altus has maintained a blistering rate of growth.

It’s phenomenal success is attracting some of the best money mangers to the Wellington-Altus flag.

It’s also becoming the preferred platform for some of the most sophisticated investment products.

In the coming weeks, the company expects to announce an exclusive Canadian partnership with one of the largest asset managers in the U.S.

Shaun Hauser, a founding partner and CEO of parent company Wellington-Altus Financial Inc., is the person responsible for recruiting new teams of money managers.

“Charlie undersells this, but the fact that he’s always been in the top one per cent of advisers in Canada not only creates a factor of relatability with other big adviser teams that we have earned the confidence of to join us,” said Hauser. “But it makes them feel we kind of understand them a little bit more, which we do.”

With about 110 teams across the country and a total of 850 employees — just under 90 per cent of whom are shareholders in the company — Wellington-Altus was ranked the No. 1 investment advisory firm in Investment Executive’s well-regarded Brokerage Report Card for the fourth consecutive year.

The fact independent money management firms like Wellington-Altus, Richardson Wealth and Cannacord Genuity make up less than 10 per cent of the market, gives Spiring and Hauser the confidence there is plenty of room for growth.

“I’m planning to get to $50 billion in two years; Shaun says it will be three,” said Spiring.

Unlike its major competitors, the Winnipeg company is privately owned and determined to retain that status. It has recently taken on some minority investors, including former Bison Transport owner Peter Jessiman’s firm, Wescan Capital, and Salt Lake City-based Cynosure Group, which own 15 per cent.

That has allowed it to remain debt-free while continuing to be able to fund investment in technology to ensure its advisers have the best, most efficient reporting, research and communication tools.

“We never want to have a debt covenant drive our strategy,” Spiring said. “So we’re able to keep our foot in the accelerator during tough times.”

All those things count as Wellington-Altus competes with the other independent firms to attract top people.

One of its main competitors is Toronto-based Richardson Wealth (the Richardson family of Winnipeg owns 44 per cent of the company).

The two firms are almost like kissing cousins.

Kish Kapoor, CEO of RF Capital Group, the publicly traded parent of Richardson Wealth, is Spiring’s former second-in-command at Wellington West Capital.

Andrew Marsh, co-founder of Richardson Wealth, is on the board of Wellington-Altus. Jessiman’s trucking firm was acquired by James Richardson & Sons.

“I’m very proud of what Charlie and Shaun have accomplished,” Kapoor said in an interview.

“Yes, we are competitors, but we’re close friends. I want the ecosystem that we operate in to get stronger. The stronger we get, the more credible we can be in providing an alternative solution to the Canadian banks.”

The strategy for both firms is to woo successful advisers from the banks to the more-flexible, less-constraining environments of the boutique firms.

“Some will chose us, some will chose Charlie’s firm,” said Kapoor. “There are so many to go around.”

Both Hauser and Spiring insist the firm’s Winnipeg roots is its “secret sauce.”

“We have found ways to support these incredible entrepreneurs who don’t want to work for the banks and give then distribution … and typically at Winnipeg prices,” said Spiring. “We are proud of our heritage.”

With fantastically-appointed accommodations — featuring a fully functioning café — Spiring jokes its 200-person head office on three floors of 201 Portage Ave. is doing its part to support the Winnipeg downtown office market.

He said leadership purposefully schedules meetings with prospective recruits in Winnipeg in the winter.

“We think if someone makes the commitment to come to Winnipeg in the middle of January, we know they are serious about making the move, because that is not the best marketing of the city,” he said. “Dayna (Spiring’s wife and former CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg) would get upset with me for saying that.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca