Latest news with #Globalive
Cision Canada
07-07-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
WealthONE Bank Acquisition by Globalive-Led Consortium Completed
Transaction positions federally chartered digital bank for expanded service to diverse Canadian markets TORONTO, July 7, 2025 /CNW/ - Wealth One Bank of Canada ("WealthONE" or the "Bank") and Globalive today announced the successful completion of the acquisition of WealthONE by a consortium of strategic investors led by Globalive, marking a transformative milestone for the federally chartered Schedule I digital bank. The transaction provides WealthONE with the capital foundation and strategic expertise needed to accelerate its mission of delivering accessible, innovative banking solutions to a broad cross-section of Canadians, with particular focus on self-employed individuals, entrepreneurs, high net worth individuals, investors with multiple properties seeking specialized lending solutions, and newcomers to Canada. "This acquisition positions WealthONE to compete more effectively as a challenger in Canada's banking sector," said Anthony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive. "We're committed to supporting the Bank's growth trajectory and its important role in expanding financial inclusion across the country." Paul Leonard, President and CEO of WealthONE emphasized the Bank's commitment to serving diverse Canadian communities: "We're entering this new phase with renewed energy and resources to enhance our work in service of Canadians who have been underserved by traditional banking. Our focus remains on delivering straightforward, customer-centric solutions that our clients need to achieve their financial goals." Strategic Vision for Expansion Under the new ownership, WealthONE will advance its core mission of providing specialized lending solutions and exceptional everyday banking while expanding its reach through three key priorities: Digital Banking Excellence: Building on its recognition as one of Canada's Top 3 Best Online Banks by Forbes Advisor, WealthONE will continue developing its full-service online and mobile banking platform to deliver safe, convenient, and responsive customer experiences. Expanding Specialized Solutions: The Bank will broaden its borrowing solutions for unique situations, leveraging its expertise across diverse client segments. Strengthened Customer Relationships: WealthONE will strengthen its highly personalized, multilingual customer service, while building strategic partnerships to drive continued innovation. Consortium of Strategic Investors The acquisition consortium brings together investors with deep expertise across financial services, telecommunications, wealth management, and technology sectors. Key consortium members include: Beedie Capital – Multi-strategy investment platform representing one of western Canada's largest private companies Grasslands Finance – Specializing in innovative lending solutions and life insurance financing Chris Kayat and Gary Mauris – Co-founders of Dominion Lending Centres with significant mortgage and lending expertise Optimize Financial Group – Comprehensive wealth management services provider Anthony Lacavera – Founder of Freedom Mobile and veteran of over 150 global ventures "WealthONE is a unique Schedule I banking platform that can lead with a first principles and tech forward approach to delivering differentiated services into the traditionally slow moving, inflexible Canadian banking sector," said David Bell, President of Beedie Capital. Gary Mauris, co-founder and CEO of Dominion Lending Centres, added: "Joining WealthONE's shareholder group is a milestone we're thrilled to celebrate. The journey is challenging, but the opportunity to innovate and build a bank we're proud to stand behind makes it all worthwhile." Matthew McGrath, President and CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Optimize Financial Group, said: "I could not be more excited to see how WealthONE gets transformed into an industry leading financial institution, fixated on its clients and focused on the future." Strengthened Governance and Leadership The Bank's newly constituted board combines seasoned financial services professionals with technology and regulatory expertise. John Webster (Board Chair) – Seasoned financial services executive with 37 years of experience in mortgage lending, trust services, and banking. His industry and governance expertise includes directorships at Manulife Bank of Canada, Manulife Trust Company, Scotia Mortgage Authority, and Maple TrustCo, as well as Cargojet Inc. and Dundee Financial Corp. Daniel Burns – Chair of CubicFarm Systems Corp and former Board Chair of Central 1 Credit Union Jason Cave – Regulatory expert with 30 years of experience at FHFA and FDIC Tuula Jalasjaa – Former Scotiabank senior executive, founder of The Women's Collection, and current WealthONE director Alfred Lau – Private equity leader, former KPMG partner with 35 years of global experience, and current WealthONE director Simon Lockie – Corporate M&A lawyer and Chief Legal Officer at Globalive Matthew McGrath – President and CEO of Optimize Financial Group with 25 years in wealth management Gary Selke – President of Cypress Hill Capital and former CEO of Front Street Capital Paul Leonard (President and CEO) – Banking industry veteran instrumental in launching Canadian challenger banks The Bank's executive leadership team, led by CEO Paul Leonard, remains in place to ensure operational continuity. About WealthONE Bank of Canada A federally chartered Canadian Schedule 1 digital bank, headquartered in Toronto ON provides Canadians across the county with a safe, convenient, and responsive experience for their everyday banking, borrowing, savings and investing needs. WealthONE was recently recognized by Forbes Advisor as one of Canada's Top 3 Best Online Banks: Wealth One Bank of Canada is a member of the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). For more information about WealthONE, please visit: WealthONE is a registered trade name of Wealth One Bank of Canada in all provinces except Quebec. INFOR Financial Inc. acted as the exclusive financial advisor of the Bank on this transaction. About Globalive Globalive is the diversified investment company of Anthony Lacavera and partners. Globalive focuses on long term investments globally in the Telecom, Financial services, and Longevity industries. The Globalive team has a build studio focused on building and operating select high growth companies.
Globe and Mail
07-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Business Brief this week: A stampede, a gold rush, and an AI arms race
Good morning. This week's AI for Good Summit in Geneva is showing how the technology's innovations are also pushing global alliances into unfamiliar territory. That's in focus today – along with this year's Calgary Stampede and a gold rush that's obscuring an inconvenient truth about Canada's exports. M&A: Globalive chair eager to apply past experience as consortium closes takeover of Wealth One Bank Innovation: Canadian companies advance digital twin technology, despite lagging adoption at home Auto analysis: The tale of the Agnelli family's two contrasting car companies, Ferrari and Stellantis Tomorrow: Ahead of the July 9 deadline set by Trump for countries to strike trade deals with the U.S., the president said the White House would begin sending letters over the weekend to countries in batches of 10 to notify them of the tariff rates they can expect. This week: The Calgary Stampede, which opened on Friday and runs through July 13, is known for many things: rodeo, pancakes and denim as far as the eye can see. But its real currency is connection. For 10 days, every bar and rooftop patio in the city is turned into a pop-up boardroom. This year's edition lands at an uneasy moment. Alberta's energy sector has big wins to toast – LNG exports have begun from the West Coast, the long-delayed Trans Mountain pipeline is pumping and Ottawa is suddenly talking about Canada as an 'energy superpower.' The city's mood is buoyant. But a cautious kind of buoyancy, if there can be such a thing: Political uncertainty still looms large, from Mark Carney's early tenure in Ottawa to the underwhelming response to Alberta's proposed new pipeline. On the books: Earnings and economic events are light, but Canada's recent trade report is a reminder of how hard domestic exporters are being hit as Carney presses for a tariff-free deal with the U.S. The UN's AI for Good summit this week is revealing how countries are racing to build sovereign computing infrastructure that is reliant on foreign investment. In an attempt to capitalize on the economic promise of artificial intelligence, Western governments are investing in domestic data centres, drafting AI rules, and striking deals with countries that, less than a decade ago, might have faced sharper scrutiny. By turning to investors such as Saudi Arabia, critics warn that attempts to reduce reliance on U.S. tech giants risk entrenching new forms of dependence on states with close ties to China and deeply contested human rights records. Both Canada and the U.S. have set aside recent ruptures over human rights in favour of strategic and economic interests. Canada's 2018 standoff – sparked by then–foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland's criticism of Saudi Arabia's arrest of women's rights activists – formally ended in 2023 when the two governments restored ties on the basis of 'mutual respect and common interests.' For the U.S., Russia's invasion of Ukraine heightened the need for oil market stability and stronger regional alliances, prompting Washington to re-engage with Riyadh despite earlier condemnations of the kingdom's role in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (During his first presidential campaign, Joe Biden pledged to make Saudi Arabia 'pay the price' and called the country a 'pariah' with 'very little social redeeming value.') Human-rights advocates have remained critical of the UN for inviting Saudi officials to the AI summit – and concern remains over Riyadh's expanding ties with China, which include co-operation on data centres, chip development and surveillance technologies that could complicate Western efforts to build secure, independent AI systems. In May, President Donald Trump signed a US$600-billion strategic agreement with Saudi Arabia, including more than US$40-billion earmarked for artificial intelligence and related infrastructure. Canada, too, is open to discussions with Saudi Arabia to support domestic data-centre expansion. In a recent interview with The Globe's Joe Castaldo and Pippa Norman, federal AI minister Evan Solomon said Ottawa is in search of 'pockets of capital' to help build sovereign capacity, while insisting any agreements would be pursued with 'eyes wide open' and preserve Canadian oversight. 'Diplomatic ties and investment does not mean you agree with governments,' he said. 'We can't look at AI as a walled-off garden. Like, 'Oh, we cannot ever take money from X or Y.'' Ottawa's openness was underscored last week when Castaldo reported that U.S. data-centre firm CoreWeave Inc. will soon operate a site in Cambridge, Ont., with Canadian AI startup Cohere Inc. – backed by $240-million from a federal fund – as a customer. British-Canadian AI guru Geoffrey Hinton, who is presenting tomorrow, told The Globe he planned on telling Solomon that Canada needs to regulate AI when the two met last week. But he acknowledged a trade-off. 'The big problem is that unless you can get international agreements, countries that don't regulate will have an advantage over countries that do. That's the same for exploiting natural resources.' It's just one issue for Canada to tackle as it navigates the contradictions of a sovereignty strategy built on foreign capital, no clear regulatory framework and a bit of moral flexibility. Canada's trade deficit with the world narrowed in May from a record high the previous month. But tariffs continued to weigh on exports to the United States – and the rise in prices for gold skewed the picture. Canada's trade deficit with the world – in very technical terms according to The Globe's Jason Kirby, 'a measure of how much more stuff we buy from other countries than sell to them' – fell to $5.9-billion in May from a record high of $7.6-billion in April. But after stripping out imports and exports of the gold category, Kirby observes, Canada's trade deficit widened to $10.3-billion. Bednar: If a toaster burns you, you can sue. But if Big Tech burns you, you're out of luck. Keller: Trump has yet to kill the golden goose that is the U.S. economy. But he's working on it. Hirsch: To increase defence spending, Canada must cut deeper, tax harder and borrow more – all at once. Stock markets were mixed amid confusion as U.S. officials flagged a delay on tariffs but failed to provide specifics on the changes. Wall Street futures were in negative territory while TSX futures pointed higher. Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.34 per cent in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 edged higher 0.13 per cent, Germany's DAX gained 0.77 per cent and France's CAC 40 rose 0.25 per cent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.56 per cent lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.12 per cent. The Canadian dollar traded at 73.19 U.S. cents.
Bloomberg
07-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Wealth One Bank Gets New Life as Canadian Investor Group Closes Deal
Canadian investment firm Globalive Corp. and a group of backers have closed their acquisition of Wealth One Bank of Canada, with plans to raise more capital soon to grow its lending business. Toronto-based Globalive teamed up with half a dozen players in mortgages and wealth management to buy all the shares of the small digital bank. The Canadian government approved the transaction in June.
Bloomberg
18-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Globalive Bid for Canada's Wealth One Bank Wins Federal Approval
Freedom Mobile founder Anthony Lacavera's investment firm won federal approval to acquire Wealth One Bank of Canada. Globalive led a consortium of Canadian investors to buy all the issued and outstanding shares of the digital bank, founded in 2016. The government of Canada approved the transaction, Globalive said in a statement Wednesday, and the deal is expected to be completed 'within weeks.'
Cision Canada
18-06-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Acquisition of WealthONE Bank by Canadian Consortium of Investors Led by Globalive Approved by Government of Canada
With all conditions to complete the acquisition met, the transaction is expected to close within weeks Bank to continue to operate as a federally regulated Schedule I bank under its current charter, with no changes to its day-to-day operations. TORONTO, June 18, 2025 /CNW/ - WealthONE Bank of Canada ("WealthONE" or the "Bank") and Globalive are pleased to announce that the Government of Canada has approved the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of the Bank by a consortium of Canadian investors led by Globalive. "We are taking a long-term growth approach with WealthONE, with a consortium of strategic investors alongside permanent capital from Globalive," said Anthony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive. Mr. Lacavera added "We look forward to closing the transaction, capitalizing the Bank, and supporting its next phase of growth." Mr. Lacavera also added "This important milestone reflects the sustained efforts of Simon Lockie and the Globalive team throughout a comprehensive and rigorous review process." Paul Leonard, President and CEO of WealthONE said, "We're very happy to partner with Globalive, whose strategic vision aligns perfectly with our commitment to supporting customers with practical financial solutions." Since its establishment nearly a decade ago, WealthONE has been dedicated to meet the evolving needs of Canadians. The Bank has expanded its services to support a diverse clientele, including self-employed individuals, entrepreneurs, and those seeking straightforward, financial tools to manage their financial futures. WealthONE is well-positioned to continue its growth and enhance its contribution to Canada's financial landscape. The Bank will continue to operate as a federally regulated Schedule I bank under its current charter, with no changes to its day-to-day operations. INFOR Financial Inc. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to WealthONE on this transaction. About WealthONE Bank of Canada A federally chartered Canadian Schedule 1 digital bank, headquartered in Toronto ON provides Canadians across the county with a safe, convenient, and responsive experience for their everyday banking, borrowing, savings and investing needs. WealthONE was recently recognized by Forbes Advisor as one of Canada's Top 3 Best Online Banks: Wealth One Bank of Canada is a member of the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). For more information about WealthONE, please visit: WealthONE is a registered trade name of Wealth One Bank of Canada in all provinces except Quebec. INFOR Financial Inc. acts as the exclusive financial advisor of the Bank on this transaction. About Globalive Globalive is the diversified investment company of Anthony Lacavera and partners. Globalive focuses on long term investments globally in the Telecom, Financial services, and Longevity industries. The Globalive team has a build studio focused on building and operating select high growth companies.
