By Colin Kellaher

A unit of French bank Natixis (KN.FR) is taking an 11% stake in Montreal investment-management company Fiera Capital Corp. (FSZ.T) as part of a long-term deal that established Fiera as Natixis' preferred Canadian distribution platform, the companies said Thursday.

Natixis Investment Managers will buy 10.68 million Fiera Class A subordinate voting shares from National Bank of Canada (NA.T) and DJM Capital, an entity controlled by Fiera Chairman Jean-Guy Desjardins, for about 128.2 million Canadian dollars ($95 million), or C$12 a share, the companies said.

Under an initial five-year distribution agreement, Fiera will distribute Natixis investment strategies to clients in Canada, while Natixis will offer Fiera strategies in international markets.

As part of the deal, Fiera will acquire Natixis' Canadian operations and funds, which are based in Toronto and have about C$1.8 billion in assets under management, the companies said.

Fiera also said it will buy back another 2.45 million Class A shares from National Bank for C$29.4 million, leaving National Bank with a roughly 7.1% stake. DJM Capital's stake will drop to 0.3% upon closing of the transactions.

Shares of Fiera were down less than 1% to C$12.08 in late morning trading Thursday.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 09, 2019 11:59 ET (15:59 GMT)