Canada's small Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) and Canadian Western Bank (CWB.TO) reported higher core earnings on Friday, and Laurentian said it had acquired a group of asset management companies for C$165 million ($168 million). Laurentian's shares rose as the bank's profit topped estimates, while Canadian Western's stock tracked the broader market lower, as its results fell just short of expectations. Laurentian subsidiary B2B Trust will acquire MRS Companies - a group of four financial management companies with about C$850 million in assets - from Mackenzie Financial, a mutual fund company that is a subsidiary of IGM Financial (IGM.TO). Montreal-based Laurentian also said it had reached a distribution agreement to offer Mackenzie mutual funds to Laurentian's customers in Quebec, beginning in 2012.
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