Baird Acquires Stake in Canada’s Sagard in Private Funds Push

Robert W. Baird & Co. is buying a stake in Canadian alternative asset manager Sagard Holdings Inc., becoming its first US institutional shareholder in a deal that also includes distribution of Sagard funds.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Baird, which manages $525 billion in client assets, will join Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and Bank of Montreal as a minority investor in Sagard, which is controlled by the Desmarais family. The transaction will be announced Tuesday.

“If you think of megatrends in our industry, there’s consolidation, democratization and the adoption of technology,” Sagard Chief Executive Officer Paul Desmarais III said in an ...