In a statement of claim filed Tuesday with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Fiera alleges its former Canadian large-cap equity team head and some of his colleagues covertly planned to transition Fiera clients to a start-up competitor.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Fiera Capital Corp. has launched a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against its outgoing head of Canadian large-cap equities, alleging a plot to funnel clients to a new competing firm.
In a statement of claim filed Tuesday with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Fiera alleges Nessim Mansoor – who led the asset manager’s Canadian large-cap equity team since September, 2019 – and some of his colleagues spent the past 18 months covertly planning to transition Fiera clients to Woodbrook Asset Management Inc., a start-up led by Mr. Mansoor.
Fiera announced Mr. Mansoor’s firing for cause for alleged breaches of his duty of loyalty to Fiera and to its code of conduct in a release on Tuesday and named Nicholas Smart the new lead for Canadian large-cap equities.
In its statement of claim, Fiera alleges a “conspiracy by a team of investment professionals who acted in concert with third parties to advance their own personal financial self-interest at the expense of their former employer, while disregarding the interests of the very clients that the defendants were actively conspiring to poach from Fiera Capital.”
Fiera’s claim says it also terminated the employment of Tony Rizzi, Nicolas Trottier, Howard Leung and Sandra Zhang – former members of Mr. Mansoor’s equity team who are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Mr. Mansoor is identified as a director of Woodbrook in business registry documents filed with the province of Ontario, while Mr. Rizzi is listed as chief executive of the company, which was incorporated in May, 2025.
Along with Woodbrook, Montreal-based Nalmont Capital Inc. is also named as a defendant in Fiera’s claim. The two-year-old firm, founded by former Fiera executives, is accused of offering back- and mid-office support to Woodbrook and Mr. Mansoor while he was still employed with Fiera.
According to its claim, Fiera wants at least $10-million in punitive damages from the defendants, plus an unspecified amount of compensatory damages.
The firm is also seeking a permanent injunction to prevent Mr. Mansoor and his co-defendants from using Fiera’s confidential information to solicit or accept business from its existing or prospective clients.
None of the allegations in the statement of claim have been proven in court.
None of the defendants responded to requests for comment before this article was published, while a spokesperson for Fiera said it doesn’t comment on matters before the courts.
According to the court document, Fiera recruited Mr. Mansoor and Mr. Rizzi back in 2016 to expand the firm’s Canadian equities capabilities.
A decade later, Fiera’s Canadian equities portfolio generates around $50-million in annual revenue, having grown to approximately $17-billion in assets under management (AUM), accounting for more than a tenth of Fiera’s roughly $160-billion in AUM.
Fiera accuses Mr. Mansoor and his co-defendants of using personal e-mail accounts and private communication channels such as WhatsApp since early 2025 to establish a launch-ready competing enterprise in secret. Fiera says it had no idea what was going on before Mr. Mansoor delivered notice of his resignation to its CEO, Maxime Ménard, on July 27, with an effective date of Aug. 31.
Mr. Rizzi resigned the following day while Mr. Mansoor pressured Mr. Ménard to negotiate a subadvisory agreement with Woodbrook, according to Fiera’s claim.
“Although Fiera had negotiated subadvisory agreements with departing employees in the past, those agreements had been negotiated in a forthright and honest manner, not under threat of an immediate mass resignation, and with a view to ensuring that the clients’ best interests were prioritized and properly protected,” the statement of claim reads.
It says Mr. Mansoor advised Mr. Ménard he had “complete control” of the Canadian large-cap equities team and had directed them to resign two weeks before the end of his notice period on Aug. 31 so they could all start work for Woodbrook at the same time.
“Mr. Mansoor leveraged the fact that the Canadian equities portfolios are a significant source of revenue to Fiera Capital, and a mass departure would leave Fiera Capital with a substantial vacuum to fill and impact client relationships,” the claim reads.
Mr. Mansoor was suspended from his duties on July 29.
According to a client note from Mr. Ménard that Globe Advisor obtained, Fiera has reached an agreement to add three senior investment professionals – Charles Nadim, Colin McPherson and Elena Gorbatkova, all from Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd. − to support Mr. Smart in his new role as lead for Canadian large-cap equities.
“The strategies’ investment philosophy, research framework, proprietary models, objectives, benchmarks, portfolio guidelines and team-based approach remain unchanged,” Mr. Ménard wrote in the client note.
Fiera’s roughly $160-billion in AUM is down from $170-billion in 2020, with some of the decline owing to redemptions from large institutional investors.
Last year, Canoe Financial LP pulled more than $5.5-billion from Fiera and moved funds to PineStone Asset Management, an investment fund company led by former Fiera portfolio manager Nadim Rizk.
Two other institutions, National Bank Investments Inc. and Fondaction, moved about $1.2-billion to Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. after it hired former Fiera small-cap fund manager Marc Lecavalier.