Great-West’s acquisitions make us wary

Article Excerpt

Great-West Lifeco has completed several acquisitions in the past two years as part of a plan to diversify beyond insurance. The plan should spur its long-term growth, but constantly integrating new businesses adds risk. GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $37 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 930.6 million; Market cap: $34.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 5.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial. It also offers mutual funds and wealth management services. Power Corp. (Toronto symbol POW) owns 68.2% of the firm. In April 2022, Great-West’s Empower business paid $4.35 billion for the full-service retirement business of U.S.-based Prudential Financial Inc. (New York symbol PRU). As a result, Empower now administers over 70,000 workplace savings plans with 17.5 million participants and $1.2 trillion U.S. in assets under administration. Great-West later sold some of those Empower policies. That’s why its revenue in the quarter ended December 31, 2022, fell 22.3%,…