George Mavroudis highlights strategic goals, product ideas as $1.67 billion take private deal is finalized
George Mavroudis has been stewarding his company’s culture for 15 years now. The President & CEO of Guardian Capital Group Limited (Guardian), takes responsibility for his firm’s 65-year history in asset management, so a cultural fit was essential when he and his firm explored a deal with Desjardins that would see Guardian Capital taken private for $1.67 billion. He found, in Desjardins, a firm with an even longer history and with the stated intent to support Guardian in its goal of becoming a top Canadian asset manager, and one of the top 100 asset managers globally. In the leadup to the announcement of the deal in August of 2025, through its closure last week, Mavroudis has ensured that his firm and its new parent would share a cultural fit. With the deal now behind them, he’s looking at growth.
Mavroudis, who adds the new second title of President & CEO of Desjardins Global Asset Management to his role, explained how his firm plans to meet their goals in Canada and globally. He explained how the firm has already worked to re-establish itself in the advisor channel, where they want to grow now, and how they plan to leverage some of Desjardins’ established strengths. He outlined how the firm will capture long-term upside and engage in new emerging areas of opportunity like alternatives, without falling into the trap of trend-chasing and short-termism that can sometimes plague growth-minded managers. He believes the support and scale of Desjardins will help Guardian strike that balance.
“We have a long-term objective. That's one of the appeals to partnering with Desjardins. There isn't this issue of quarter-to-quarter earnings reporting. They have the ability to make investments that may take 10, 15, 20 years to build out. And that has been consistent with Guardian's philosophy,” Mavroudis says. “Five years ago we set out to start rebuilding our mutual fund and ETF lineup. I think we've been making slow but steady progress in terms of building our profile with advisors with the products we've launched. And I think what you're going to see now is just a greater acceleration of those solutions being brought to the table.”
Mavroudis argues that his firm’s whole approach has been aimed at the long-term. Short-term thematic plays, he says, are often a difficult means of sustaining a business in the long-term. You may “ride the wave” while that theme stays hot, only to see an abrupt cessation of interest. While Guardian wants to stay long-term, Mavroudis acknowledges that they also have to innovate, which is where active management comes in, allowing for tactical tweaks in line with trends that serve, rather than detract from, long-term outcomes.
Mavroudis argues that his firm also maintains that balance through an agnostic approach to their delivery vehicle. If clients prefer a strategy in a mutual fund or an ETF, or a Separately Managed Account, Guardian will strive to make that wrapper work for a strategy. They aren’t motivated by growing one particular channel, Mavroudis explains, so much as they want to grow the totality of their business.
That agnosticism towards fund packaging allows Guardian more flexibility in their rollout of alternative strategies. The alts world is vast, and individual assets can come with liquidity issues, delivery challenges, and pricing infrequency that suit certain fund wrappers better than others. In working to deliver the retail channel more alternatives access, Mavroudis says his firm will work to deliver what works in the long-term, rather than promising on something they can’t deliver.
“Over the last five plus years we've been hearing people telling us that if you want to sell private assets to the retail channel, you need to give them daily liquidity or more regular liquidity. And frankly, as an asset manager, right, we looked at the underlying assets, said this is very difficult to do,” Mavroudis says. “Even though the clients are asking for it, we have to be the grownups to say that if you want that level of liquidity, you really shouldn't be in this strategy. Let's find something else that might deliver maybe some similar outcomes.”
Though he acknowledges the drawbacks that can come with chasing unqualified demand for alternatives, Mavroudis remains committed to the asset class as a whole. He wants Guardian and Desjardins Global Asset Management to deliver product in line with what advisors and their clients need, but with a view to outlasting market cycles and exogenous shocks. He says that Guardian plans to build off Desjardins’ existing capabilities in private infrastructure, leveraging the scale and insurance know-how of the organization to deliver retail access to a largely institutional asset class. He’s keen to expand Guardian’s liquid alternatives offerings, as well, noting that the firm has capabilities to leverage and deliver to the market.
As Mavroudis and his firm seek to meet their goals, he stresses the ongoing customer service and outreach efforts that advisors can expect to see.
“We don't like to make major changes in anything we do in general. So I think our advisors should expect more of the same type of quality, of high touch, high collaboration with advisors, being able to listen to them and also being able to give them a lot of our resources that are not limited by just pure economics. We're very happy to extend our portfolio manager access, content access and so forth,” Mavroudis says. “I think one thing that advisors should be excited about is given the partnership we have, the resources we have, we're going to be going probably even more committed to that advisor channel than we have before.”
