Ontario teachers acquire Kanetix Ltd.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) has agreed to acquire Kanetix Ltd., a digital customer acquisition platform and marketplace providing online quotes for insurance and financial products.

Many details about the acquisition are not yet known, and financial terms were not disclosed. OTPP could not immediately be reached for comment about the rationale for the acquisition.

In a short statement announcing the move, OTPP said Igal Mayer will be the new CEO of Kanetix, effective immediately. Mayer is the founder of Shop Insurance Canada as well as the former CEO of Aviva Canada, Aviva UK and Aviva Europe.

Mayer succeeds former Kanetix Ltd. president and CEO Andrew Lo, who stepped down effective with the Aug. 31 announcement.

Launched in October 1999, Kanetix.ca was Canada’s first online insurance marketplace. Today, it annually provides more than 1 million quotes to consumers looking for insurance, as well as comparisons for mortgage rates and credit cards, publishing rates from more than 50 insurance companies. The comparison service offers quotes for various types of car, home, business, travel, life, health and pet insurance.

“As Canada’s largest digital customer acquisition platform for insurance and financial services, we are delighted that Kanetix Ltd. is now part of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) family,” Kanetix said in a statement. “As one of the country’s largest institutional investors, Ontario Teachers’ has a track record of working collaboratively alongside companies and their management teams to create long term-value.”

Headquartered in Toronto, the OTPP is Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, with $193.9 billion in net assets as of June 30, 2018. It holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, and has earned an average annualized rate of return of 9.9% since the plan’s founding in 1990.