GWO deepens its Irish connection

Article Excerpt

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 988.6 million; Market cap: $31.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 4.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial. It also offers mutual funds and wealth management services. Power Financial Corp. (Toronto symbol PWF) owns 67.6% of the company. Great-West has agreed to acquire an undisclosed stake in the Irish operations of Invesco Ltd. (New York symbol IVZ). That business manages the pension plans of 275 of Ireland’s large corporations and over 500 of its smaller companies. Great-West has yet to reveal how much it will pay for the stake in Invesco (Ireland), but it expects to complete the transaction in the third quarter of 2018. The company has used acquisitions to build up its Irish operations in the past few years. Recent purchases in that country include Aviva Health and the 51% of GloHealth that Great-West didn’t already own. The stock trades at…