The Onex Corporation logo is displayed at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on May 10, 2012.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Onex Corp. has landed the former leader of Toronto-Dominion Bank’s private wealth division as the new head of Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc., a money manager that caters to high-net-worth investors.
On Wednesday, Onex announced Dave Kelly is taking over as head of Gluskin Sheff, which the Toronto-based alternative asset manager acquired in 2019.
Mr. Kelly is the former head of private wealth management at TD and spent 14 years at the bank running businesses that cater to wealthy families. Prior to that, he spent a decade in similar roles at CIBC. In a press release, Mr. Kelly said: “Onex and Gluskin Sheff have strong brand reputations in Canada and I’m confident in our ability to continue to deliver the highest level of service and value to our clients as we accelerate our growth plan.”
Gluskin Sheff has approximately US$7-billion of client assets under management; Toronto-based parent Onex oversees US$47-billion. Onex was founded in 1984 as a private equity fund manager and acquired Gluskin Sheff to diversify the services it offers clients, and to sell wealthy individuals and families its private equity and credit products, which previously were marketed largely to institutional investors.
“Dave’s experience building strong operational functions to support high-quality, growing private wealth businesses is a strong asset to our business, team and clients,” said Onex president Bobby Le Blanc in a release. He said Gluskin Sheff is distinguishing itself from rival fund managers by offering clients both traditional wealth management products and alternative assets.
Onex’s recent financial results show the company is successfully selling income-generating private credit investments to Gluskin Sheff customers, as their holdings in the sector rose 62 per cent in the past nine months to US$1.2-billion.
Gluskin Sheff clients hold US$86-million of Onex private equity products, up 10 per cent in the past nine months.
Current Gluskin Sheff CEO Jeff Moody, who ran the business for the past five years, is moving into a vice-chair role and will remain on the platform’s investment committee. Mr. Moody joined Gluskin Sheff in 2001.
Ira Gluskin, a former real estate analyst and Globe and Mail columnist, and former architect Gerald Sheff founded the asset manager that bears their names in 1984 and attracted a strong following among wealthy families. They took the company public in 2006. The founders sold their stakes in the business before Onex acquired it for $445-million more than two years ago.
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Andrew Willis