chief executive officer, Jeffrey Orr, is defending the company’s investments in financial technology startups, despite a downturn in the sector that has resulted in a dramatically lower valuation for the company’s biggest fintech bet, Wealthsimple Technologies Inc.
The company holds, through various entities, a 42.5-per-cent stake in Wealthsimple. It first bought into the online investment platform in 2015.Power Corp. is an investing giant, widely known for its 66.6-per-cent stake in Canadian insurer Great-West Lifeco Inc., its 61.6-per-cent of wealth management firm IGM Financial Inc., and its 14.6-per-cent of Groupe Bruxelle Lambert, a European investment company.
The value of the group’s stake in Wealthsimple has decreased in the first and second quarters of 2022 by $400-million and $800-million, respectively. Several analysts questioned Mr. Orr on Monday about the future of Wealthsimple and the tumbling tech sector’s overall impact on Power Corp.’s investment in the company.
Mr. Orr told analysts Power Corp. continues to see success with another fintech company in which it made a significant investment: U.S-based digital wealth managerfinancial planning tool that was acquired by Great-West Lifeco in 2020. Mr. Orr said Power Corp. has been delighted with the outcomes for both Personal and Wealthsimple.
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