Money manager and businessman Ned Goodman is seen in his Toronto office on October 20, 2010.Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail
Ned Goodman isn't going anywhere, anytime soon.
The Bay Street veteran and controlling shareholder of Dundee Corp. recently stepped down as chairman of its board of directors, but in a recent telephone interview, he dismissed any notions of slowing down.
"I'm working harder today than I've ever worked in my life," he said. "I love my job. They're going to have to carry me out."
Mr. Goodman explained that he had only been in the chairman role on an interim basis while Dundee searched for a replacement for Harold (Sonny) Gordon, whose tenure as chairman ended in July of last year, though he stayed on as vice chair. In a statement issued Friday, the company announced that Robert McLeish has taken over as independent chairman of the board, and that Mr. Goodman will remain a director of Dundee and will continue to perform various other roles for the company at large.
Mr. Goodman's biggest focus right now is helping his son, David Goodman, CEO of Dundee, create a new asset management business. In 2011, the firm sold DundeeWealth Inc., its original wealth management business and the owner of the Dynamic family of mutual funds, to Bank of Nova Scotia for $2.3-billion.
Dundee will not be re-entering the mutual fund business this time around, as the firm feels that the big banks now have a stranglehold on the fund market.
Instead, Dundee will be getting into alternative investing, specifically private equity. Dundee has dabbled in the sector in the past, said Mr. Goodman, adding that the firm isn't planning on being a passive investor and will be looking to co-invest in assets alongside third parties. Dundee "likes to buy undervalued businesses, work with the management to make them better and watch them go up," he said.
Goodman & Company Investment Counsel Inc. will be the manager of Dundee's private equity assets, and will earn fees from managing those assets, he said. As for a timeline on when Dundee's private equity business will be up and running?
"You'll see in the next three of four months some press releases that we have created some alternative products that we manage."
Mr. Goodman also says he will be looking for women to fill senior roles at Dundee Corp.
"We're going to put some more women on the board, which is part and parcel of what the regulator likes to see."
The company recently appointed former Merrill Lynch executive Virginia Gambale as a board member.
Niall McGee