The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that iA Financial chief executive officer Denis Ricard says the insurer is hunting for a multibillion-dollar acquisition. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that Mr. Ricard said smaller deals will not suffice anymore. iA Financial targets the mass market rather than high-net-worth clients. It sells individual insurance policies in North America and has other lines, including vehicle extended warranties, wealth-management distribution and segregated funds. U.S. life insurance businesses are now at the top of his target list, Mr. Ricard said about his deal search. He said: "In each and everything that we're doing, we try to think, OK, can we do it differently? So in the individual insurance space, we're trying to identify niche markets that are different." The firm can deploy about $1.4-billion in excess capital immediately. It generated nearly $700-million in cash flow in 2025, giving it capacity to pursue a sizable transaction without issuing shares, Mr. Ricard said, adding that the company will also consider acquisitions outside of Canada and the U.S. In January, its market capitalization hit a record $16.7-billion, but has since fallen about 18 per cent.