It’s a good fit for Great-West

Article Excerpt

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $33.58 (Toronto symbol GWO; shares outstanding: 986.4 million; Market cap: $33.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s secondlargest insurance company, after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management services. The company will now buy Financial Horizon Group, a private firm that sells financial products through 6,600 financial advisors across Canada. It has yet to reveal the purchase price, but should complete the deal in the next few months. Financial Horizon sells insurance and other products from a variety of providers through its 30 offices across Canada. That’s why GreatWest plans to operate it as a separate business, instead of merging it with the insurer’s existing operations. Great-West Lifeco is a hold. hold…