BNS bulks up its assets

Article Excerpt

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $79.50 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $95.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%) is Canada’s third largest bank. The bank recently agreed to acquire Jarislowsky Fraser, a privately held wealth management firm based in Montreal. Bank of Nova Scotia will pay $950 million worth of common shares when it completes the purchase in mid-2018. Depending on how well that business performs, it could pay up to an additional $56 million in shares. Jarislowsky Fraser caters mainly to institutional investors (roughly 70% of assets) and high-net-worth individuals (30%). Its $40 billion in assets under management will increase the bank’s assets under management to $166 billion. The new operations should begin to contribute to earnings in fiscal 2020. Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy. buy…