Power Corp (POW) used its appearance at the CIBC Eastern Institutional Investor Conference on September 24, 2026, to defend what Chief Financial Officer Jake Goldberg called the firm's "active ownership" model — a strategy that goes beyond capital deployment into direct involvement in portfolio company strategy, governance and collaboration.
Trading at $25.97, up 33.59% year-to-date, Power Corp shares carry a 20.1% discount to net asset value. Goldberg said the discount is precisely the kind of opportunity the company exploits through its share repurchase program, which has returned roughly $4 billion to shareholders over the past five years. He framed the current valuation gap as straightforward arbitrage: "If the stock market has Power Corp trading at a 20% discount to NAV, I don't know. I'll give you CAD 8. Do you want to give me CAD 10 back? It's a pretty good trade."
Great-West Life, in which Power Corp owns just under 70%, remains the crown jewel of the portfolio. Quarterly earnings have topped $1 billion for two to three straight quarters, with return on equity above 19% over the same stretch. About 90% of year-to-date earnings have been cash-generative, and the insurer raised its dividend by more than 10%. Great-West plans buybacks exceeding $1 billion in both 2025 and 2026, proceeds from which fund much of Power Corp's own repurchase activity.
IGM Financial, the other major listed holding, contributes significantly to the mix. Power Corp owns slightly under 20% of Rockefeller, an ultra-high-net-worth U.S. wealth platform whose mark doubled over a 2.5-year period. IGM also co-leads the voting control of Wealthsimple alongside Power Corp, together commanding roughly 55% of voting rights and about 45% of the equity stack. Both firms participated in approximately $200 million of a recent Wealthsimple capital raise.
Wealthsimple, the consumer fintech built by Paul Desmarais III and now led by CEO Mike Katchen, reported assets under management above $150 billion and posted $17 billion in net flows last quarter across deposits, investments and digital assets. Its economic value to the Power group has grown to more than $4 billion from an initial $300 million seed investment. Goldberg stressed that the relationship is not speculative: "This is not a trade. This is a long-term investment. It is a core piece of the Power group of companies." More than one in ten Canadians now hold a Wealthsimple product.
Private-credit and alternative-platform operator Sagard, seeded with over $75 million in capital five to ten years ago by Desmarais III, currently carries a $400 million U.S. valuation with an internal rate of return north of 15% and a multiple on invested capital of about 1.65. Sagard manages roughly $50 billion in assets and is targeting $100 billion within five-plus years, having turned fee-related earnings positive in the second quarter of 2026.
On the balance sheet, Power Corp reports gross assets of $60 billion, cash of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, debt of $900 million and a deconsolidated leverage ratio of just 2%. Ninety to 92% of NAV sits in publicly traded securities, primarily Great-West Life and IGM Financial, with about 4% in cash. The earliest debt maturity does not come due until 2033.
Goldberg acknowledged that the active-ownership narrative requires clearer communication. "I think our job is we need to do a more effective job on demonstrating and communicating what active ownership looks like," he said, noting that the concept extends well beyond simple capital allocation into hands-on partnership across the portfolio. The company, which has paid dividends for 54 consecutive years, completed its simplification strategy earlier this year with the announced sale of LMPG Inc. alongside its second-quarter results.
