Power Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, is an international management and holding company with interests in financial services and asset management businesses in Canada, the United States and Europe. It also has significant holdings in a portfolio of global companies based in Europe through its investment in GBL.
Power Financial became a public company in the mid-1980s to provide the public with a pure-play financial services company, at a time when Power Corporation had substantial holdings in industrial companies and plans to build upon them.
Power Financial prospered and grew substantially by expanding existing businesses, namely Great-West Life, Investors Group, Montreal Trust, and Pargesa, and by acquiring new ones, such as London Life, Mackenzie Financial, Canada Life, Putnam Investments, Irish Life and J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services.
Over time, the asset profile of Power Financial and Power Corporation became substantially similar, leading to the recent reorganization. Power Financial continues to exist as a company with preferred shares and debt securities held by the public. Its common shares, however, were delisted from the TSX in February of 2020, after having provided outstanding returns to its shareholders over many decades.
