CI Financial Corp.

Maine's strong performance highlights the impact that the transformation we made from a series of competing boutiques to an integrated global asset manager has had for our clients. Corian had another strong quarter, delivering adjusted EBITDA growth of 6% quarter over quarter. In May, Corian completed the acquisition of two RIAs, and on July 31st, we closed on the acquisitions of two more, adding a combined $14 billion of client assets across the four firms. I'll now turn the call over to Ahmed to discuss our financial results.

Thank you, Kurt, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide four, our global assets ended the quarter up 3% to $489 billion, driven by positive markets across our three segments, as well as net inflows into our U.S. and Canadian wealth segments. Turning to our financial results on the next slide, I'll focus my comments on our adjusted results. Adjusted net income was $136 million, or $0.90 per share, for the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $252 million for the quarter, and our adjusted EBITDA margin was 40.1%. Turning to the next slide, I'll highlight the segment results and the key drivers of EBITDA and margins. Asset management EBITDA was relatively stable and came in at $159 million for the quarter. Margins were down due to seasonal compensation items, which I'll go through later. Canada wealth EBITDA was down slightly to $18 million for the quarter, and margins were down due to our previously disclosed investments we are making into our custody platform. In the U.S., pre-NCI EBITDA increased to $115 million and margins were relatively flat at 42.6%. Compared to the second quarter of last year, EBITDA has increased 21%, which is greater than the invested group's preferred return. We have some variability in our U.S. NCI this quarter due to the timing of expenses between quarters and whether the expenses were incurred within our Corian partnership or our U.S. holding company, which each have different levels of NCI ownership. A better go-forward number is looking at our first half NCI, which removes that variability. For purposes of modeling non-controlling interest of our U.S. segment for future quarters, we estimate non-controlling interest of 37% of U.S. adjusted EBITDA when calculating our U.S. segment adjusted EBITDA. And for purposes of modeling non-controlling interest for our U.S. segment's contribution to EPS, we estimate non-controlling interest of 30% of U.S. segment adjusted EBITDA. Turning to the next slide, I'll walk through the changes in revenue. Revenues on a comparable basis increased 4 percent to $757 million. Asset management revenues were up $3 million due to positive markets, which were partly offset by slightly lower fee capture and the effect of net outflows. Canada and US wealth management fees increased due to higher asset levels from positive flows and positive markets. Acquisitions in the US added $2 million in revenue in the quarter. Turning to the next slide, we can review the major changes in expenses. On a comparable basis, total expenses increased about 8%. SG&A increased due to higher compensation-related expenses In particular, we incurred the full quarter effect of merit increases and stock-based compensation for awards granted in the first quarter, in addition to higher headcount to support the build-out of our custody platform as we guided last quarter. We also had higher costs for investments in marketing and sales to support our three business segments and higher external professional fees. Advisor and dealer fees increased due to higher revenue earned in our Canada wealth segment. Interest expense increased because of the new bond offering, as well as borrowings to fund acquisition-related obligation payments and stock buybacks. Depreciation and amortization increased due to higher depreciation of hardware and computer equipment as part of integration and new lease office space at Coriant, which we discussed on last quarter's call. Looking forward to the next few quarters, we anticipate interest and lease finance expenses to be in the range of $59 to $60 million in the third quarter, primarily due to interest costs from our recent bond issuance and borrowings from our credit facility to settle acquisition obligations. Also, as a reminder from last quarter, we expect higher depreciation and amortization of $18 to $21 million over the next few quarters, reflecting the impact from integration capital expenditures. This guidance is unchanged from last quarter. Turning to slide 9, we can review our debt and leverage. Our debt was relatively unchanged at $3.5 billion, as the new bonds we raised in May were offset by a reduction in our long-dated U.S. dollar bonds, which were tendered during the quarter, and lower credit facility balance. FX headwinds increased debt by $24 million. Our net leverage was also unchanged at 3.5 times on a reported basis. Turning to slide 10, I'll review new information we are providing on the separation of debt and acquisition liabilities for Canada and the U.S. As we have previously discussed, Canada and the U.S. have different capital priorities. The table on the right of this slide reflects the cash, debt, and M&A obligations for Canada and the U.S. at the end of the quarter. The U.S. has borrowed $154 million from Canada to primarily fund acquisitions. The U.S. also has $151 million in contingent consideration obligations. Canada has $164 million remaining to pay for U.S. acquisitions. These will be fully paid off by early next year with a large portion running off in the third quarter. Canada also has $70 million in other Canadian acquisition obligations. We will update this information quarterly so you can track how we're using the respective cash flows of the businesses to pay down its obligations deployed to other strategic priorities. Thank you. Let me turn the call back to Kurt.

Thanks, Amit. As discussed frequently, we take a dynamic approach to our capital allocation priorities. The second quarter was very active on this front. In addition to share buybacks, M&A, and settling deferred considerations, One of the actions we took was to crystallize the $282 million pre-tax gain for our shareholders through a tender offer of our 2051 bonds, along with open market purchases of our 2030 and 2051 bonds. We felt the second quarter was the opportune time to realize this large gain for our shareholders, as it is likely that any unrealized gains will be reduced as interest rates contract. Currently, additional opportunities exist for us to continue to achieve accelerated deleveraging through the repurchases of the remaining bonds that are trading at a discounted bar. We continue to rapidly scale our U.S. wealth management business. Since the minority investments in Corrient last May, the business has grown EBITDA at a 26% compound annual growth rate. EBITDA growth was driven primarily from a combination of organic growth and our integration efforts, as until recently, M&A activity was running below historical levels. As we discussed last quarter, we are nearing the completion of major real estate integrations. In May, we consolidated our New York City office footprint into new office space at 101 Park Avenue. In two weeks, we will move into new space in Boston which will be followed by Chicago in September and Miami later this year. The consolidation of office space is important for elevating the client experience, driving collaboration, culture, and unity across Coric. As mentioned earlier, we've supplemented our strong organic growth with the completion of four transactions in recent months, adding nearly $14 billion in client assets. In the second quarter, we closed on the acquisition of Fort Lauderdale-based Associates Family Office, which specializes in serving NFL and NBA players. We also closed on the acquisition of Cleveland-based multifamily office, Paragon Advisors. Paragon focuses on ultra high net worth families with average assets of greater than $80 million. At the end of July, we closed on two additional acquisitions. Byron Financial is a Charlotte-based high net worth RIA focused on comprehensive financial planning that will deepen our presence in North Carolina. Emerald is South Florida-based and focuses on providing comprehensive wealth management services to families with greater than $200 million in net worth. All four of these acquisitions were fully integrated at the time of closing, driving immediate benefits for clients and synergies for our business. We continue to make progress executing against our strategic priorities. In asset management, we've been active on the product front, both streamlining our existing lineup and launching innovative new strategies, including the global AI ETF, which quickly scaled past $500 million in assets. Our private market solution continues to gain traction as it is addressing an unmet need in the marketplace, providing Canadians with access to the world's leading alternatives managers via a single solution. In addition, we maintain strong financial discipline with EBITDA margins essentially flat for the first half of the year, despite the cyclical pressure we've endured on fee rates as a result of asset mix shifts. In Canadian Wealth, we continue to have success recruiting advisors to both our Asante and Align Capital platforms. In aggregate, recruited assets are up over 75% in the first half of the year. We also continue to invest to further scale our custody business and leverage technology to provide a better client experience. We are working towards onboarding the remainder of our wealth assets and are having constructive conversations with a number of third parties. At Quorient, we're making progress against our strategic plan and the investments we've made to scale and fully integrate our business are reflected in our financial results. Our EBITDA grew 6% quarter over quarter, our net flows remain strong, and our solutions and alternatives offerings are growing rapidly. Margins in the business are showing the benefit of our integration efforts, adjusted EBITDA margins up 120 basis points in the first half of the year. As we discussed on the previous slide, accelerated growth the acquisition and integration of four high quality firms so far in 2024. On the 30th anniversary of CI as a public company, we're incredibly proud of the success we've had since our inception and couldn't be more excited about how well diversified and how well positioned the firm is going forward. We thank you for your interest in CI and we'd be happy to take your questions.