The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, May 12, edition that CI Financial is selling a 20-per-cent interest in its U.S. wealth management business for $1.34-billion and pausing plans to spin out the division and take it public. The Globe's Clare O'Hara and David Milstead write that CI said Thursday it had agreed to make the sale to a group of institutional investors that includes Bain Capital, Flexpoint Ford, Ares Management funds, the State of Wisconsin and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as well as other investors that have not been publicly named. The transaction values the equity of the U.S. business at $6.7-billion, nearly three times CI's entire $2.3-billion market capitalization on the Toronto Stock Exchange at Wednesday's closing price of $12.50. By retaining 80 per cent of the U.S. business, CI holds an interest valued by the new investment at just under $5.4-billion, or nearly $29 per CI share. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close at the end of May. The investment follows CI's sale last month of its 45-per-cent interest in Congress Wealth Management, a Boston-based company with offices in seven cities, to Audax Private Equity.