Peloton and Stephen Smith acquire Glass Lewis from Ontario Teachers’ and AIMCo

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By CPE News

CPE News (3/16/2021) – Peloton Capital Management and Stephen Smith have acquired Glass Lewis from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is a leading provider of independent global governance solutions. It provides proxy voting research, recommendations and custom research and voting services to institutional investor clients globally.

With more than 380 employees worldwide, Glass Lewis services 1,300+ clients including the majority of the world’s largest pension plans, mutual funds and asset managers.

Ontario Teachers’ acquired Glass Lewis from Xinhua Finance Ltd. for US $46 million in 2007 and sold 20% stake to AIMCo in 2013.

Peloton Capital Management is a private equity firm that utilizes a long-term investment philosophy and sector-focused strategy to partner with founders and management teams.

Smith is co-founder, Chairman & CEO of First National Financial Corporation (TSX: FN), and co-owner of Duo Bank, which is owned by Smith, Centerbridge Partners, L.P. and Ontario Teachers’.

photo credit: Glass Lewis

News Release

Peloton Capital Management and Stephen Smith Acquire Glass Lewis

Acquisition positions leading provider of global governance solutions to address the global demands of shifting governance activities

March 16, 2021 06:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN FRANCISCO & TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Peloton Capital Management and Stephen Smith have acquired Glass Lewis from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). Glass Lewis is the leading provider of independent global governance solutions. Its unbiased research reports that provide analysis and recommendations on every proxy vote, including M&A and other financial transactions, along with its industry-leading proxy vote management solutions drive value across all governance activities for institutional investors.

“Peloton Capital Management and Stephen are committed to long-term, sustainable value creation through good governance. This aligns strongly with the core values we have established at Glass Lewis,” said Kevin Cameron, Executive Chair at Glass Lewis. “Together, we can advance our mission to help our customers drive value across their governance and stewardship activities.”

“Capital markets participants have become increasingly focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors as they build their business strategies. Glass Lewis is very well positioned to provide solutions to address the global demands generated by this shift,” said Stephen. “Glass Lewis has built a venerable brand and we look forward to helping them deliver important governance solutions to the marketplace.”

With teams located throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, Glass Lewis offers customers global reach with a local perspective on important governance issues. With the support of Peloton Capital Management and Stephen, Glass Lewis can expand to new markets with new solutions while continuing its long-standing reputation of exceptional customer focus.

“Investors and public companies across the globe depend on research, insights, and technology from Glass Lewis to run their governance programs. With climate risk and deep social changes at the forefront of conversations across boardrooms, Glass Lewis’ solutions have never been more critical to sustainable business success,” said Steve Faraone, Managing Partner at Peloton Capital Management.

Lazard acted as financial advisor and Torys LLP was legal counsel to Ontario Teachers’ and AIMCo. Perkins Coie LLP acted as legal counsel to Peloton Capital Management and Stephen Smith.

About Glass Lewis:
Glass Lewis is the leading provider of independent global governance solutions. We enable institutional investors and publicly listed companies to make sustainable decisions based in research and data. We cover 30,000 meetings each year, across approximately 100 global markets. Our customers include the majority of the world’s largest pension plans, mutual funds, and asset managers who collectively manage over $40 trillion in assets. Our core solutions include Proxy Paper proxy research and Viewpoint proxy vote management platform. More information available at www.glasslewis.com.

About Peloton Capital Management:
Peloton Capital Management is a private equity firm that utilizes a long-term investment philosophy and sector-focused strategy to partner with founders and management teams to help build exceptional businesses and create attractive returns for our investors. PCM’s primary focus is investing in services businesses within the Healthcare, Financial, and Consumer verticals in North America. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, PCM was founded and is led by a team with extensive private equity experience. For more information please visit: www.pelotoncapitalmanagement.com.

About Stephen Smith:
Stephen Smith, one of Canada’s leading financial services entrepreneurs, is the Chairman, CEO and Co-founder of First National Financial Corporation, Canada’s largest non-bank mortgage lender with over $115 billion of mortgages under administration. He is the Chairman and a co-owner of Canada Guaranty Mortgage Insurance Company; Chairman and a co-owner of Duo Bank of Canada , formerly Walmart Canada Bank, whose subsidiary Fairstone Financial Inc., is Canada’s largest non-bank consumer finance lender; and is the largest shareholder in Equitable Bank, Canada’s Challenger Bank™. In 2015, Queen’s University announced the naming of the Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in honour of Mr. Smith and his historic $50 million donation to the school.

Contacts

Jodi Echakowitz
Boulevard Public Relations
+1 416-271-7250
jodi@boulevardpr.com