Before the bell BMO announced its acquisition of Burgundy Asset Management for $625M, $125M of which is contingent on limiting AUM churn. The deal adds $27B (6%) to BMO’s existing platform, which has delivered >25% ROE over the past year.

The transaction is the latest in a long list of wealth management industry consolidation, and comes at a similar AUM multiple to Scotiabank’s $950M bid for Jarislowsky Fraser ($40B AUM) and TD’s $792M Greystone deal ($36B AUM) from 2018.

With the deal paid for in shares (~0.6% dilution), today’s 0.8% drop signals the market is chalking this up as a nothingburger. But the long-term implications are clear: this is a scale game, and it’s only getting tougher for the independents.