Two former Toronto-Dominion Bank TD-T executives with entrepreneurial experience joined Forthlane Partners Ltd. this week to boost the wealth manager’s offering of pension plan-style investments for wealthy families.
On Tuesday, former TD Securities head of corporate and investment banking Robbie Pryde took over as chief executive officer at Forthlane, founded six years ago by Ken Grewal, the former CEO, and chief investment officer Wayne Kozun, who spent 22 years at the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. Mr. Grewal continues to be a Forthlane partner and executive.
Toronto-based Forthlane also welcomed Robert Vanderhooft as co-chief investment officer, alongside Mr. Kozun. Mr. Vanderhooft was chief investment officer at TD Asset Management.
Forthlane offers individuals and families with $20-million or more in investable assets access to the world’s top asset managers. The employee-owned platform has $500-million of assets under management. Founded in 2018, the firm’s core offering – branded as a “Safe Capital Portfolio” – returned 9 per cent annually over the past five years.
“We believe wealthy families and individuals in Canada are underserved, compared to what is available in the U.S. and Europe,” Mr. Pryde said in an interview. “It is difficult for even the wealthiest of families to invest like the top institutional investors. Forthlane delivers the sort of service a chief investment officer provides in a family office, to clients that don’t have a family office.”
In 1995, Mr. Pryde co-founded investment dealer Newcrest Capital. TD Bank bought Newcrest five years later for $224-million.
Mr. Vanderhooft is the former CEO and chief investment officer of Regina-based Greystone Capital Management Inc., an employee-owned wealth manager TD Bank acquired in 2018 for $792-million. The Regina resident is also a former director of the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. Both executives retired from TD Bank in the past year.
Forthlane currently offers five types of investments – the partners call them “sleeves” – in global sectors such as public equities, fixed income, private credit, private equity and real estate. Each sleeve features funds from four or five managers. Mr. Pryde said Forthlane plans to add at least two new sleeves, in infrastructure and real assets, such as precious metals-based funds.
This week, former Sprott Inc. CEO Peter Grosskopf invested in Forthlane. Sprott is one of the country’s largest mangers of funds invested in gold, silver and uranium, with $31-billion of assets under managerment.
Forthlane’s target clients are families with up to $500-million of investable assets – folks with more savings than this tend to have family offices and their own investment teams. Many of the firm’s current and potential clients are entrepreneurs the Forthlane team knows from their previous roles. Mr. Grewel was an investment banker at BMO Capital Markets, UBS Securities and Bank of Nova Scotia.
There are approximately 87,000 families in Canada with investable assets of more than $5-million, according to a study by wealth manager Mackenzie Investments. This sector, considered ultra-high-net-worth, and the high-net-worth sector of those with $1-million to $5-million grew at a 6.4-per-cent annual clip over the past decade, Mackenzie said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect figure for Sprott's assets under management. This version has been updated.