A Bay Street sign is seen in the financial district of Toronto on June 2, 2014.Mark Blinch/The Globe and Mail
One of the Canada's exchange-traded fund leaders is abruptly leaving the firm he founded after a conflict with owners over the company's future strategy.
Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc.'s chief executive officer Adam Felesky has departed the firm, and he is not leaving for another company, according to Steve Hawkins, Horizons' chief investment officer.
Mr. Felesky played a key role in growing the investment-funds provider, which was initially called BetaPro Management Inc., into a significant ETF firm in Canada. Horizons now has 72 ETFs listed on the TSX and $4.6-billion in assets under management as of the end of December.
The company also tapped into a period of growth in the Canadian ETF industry where more assets are being invested in these funds. At the end of 2014, total assets invested in Canadian ETFs totaled $76.7-billion, up from $63.1-billion one year earlier, according to the Canadian ETF Association and research firm Investor Economics. Horizons had a market share of about 5.5 per cent in Canada, down a percentage point from a year earlier, the data show.
Taeyong Lee, Horizon's executive chairman, will stand in Mr. Felesky's place until a new leader can be found. Other executives, such as president Howard Atkinson, will also stay with the firm.
Mr. Lee is global president of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd., the Korea-based asset management arm of Mirae Asset Financial Group. Mirae Asset acquired a majority stake in Horizons in 2011 from Toronto-based Jovian Capital Corp. Jovian's business was later bought by Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc.
Mirae Asset remains committed to Horizons, but there was a difference of opinion about how Horizons would enter that next phase of growth, which was a leading factor in Felesky's departure, Mr. Hawkins said in a statement.
Mr. Felesky remained invested in Horizon's business after the acquisition, and continues to hold a stake in the firm.