Merger of Meritas Financial Inc., OceanRock Capital Partners Inc. and Qtrade
Fund Management Inc. Completed

VANCOUVER, April 5 /CNW/ - Qtrade Fund Management Inc. announced today that the merger of its operations with Meritas Financial Inc. and OceanRock Capital Partners Inc. has been successfully completed. The combined entity is part of the Qtrade Financial Group ("Qtrade"), which currently has approximately $4.5 billion in assets under administration and approximately $365 million in assets under management. Qtrade will continue to provide managed portfolio and mutual fund solutions to retail investors, institutional clients, advisors and the customers of Qtrade's financial institution partners across Canada through:

    
    QFM Funds - professionally managed mutual fund solutions that cover a
    diversified selection of mandates across various regions, asset classes
    and industries.

    Meritas Funds - professionally managed mutual fund solutions devoted
    exclusively to socially responsible investing ("SRI"). The Meritas Funds
    help investors align their investments with their social, ethical and
    environmental concerns.

    OceanRock Capital Partners - provides portfolio management and individual
    discretionary money management services to institutions and high-net
    worth clients across Canada (including socially responsible investment
    mandates).
    

Scott Gibner, CEO of Qtrade commented, "Not only are we excited about the addition of Meritas' industry leading SRI investment solutions to our managed portfolio and mutual fund offering, but we are extremely pleased to have Gary Hawton, CEO of Meritas, the rest of the Meritas staff and the Meritas shareholders, who will become important Qtrade shareholders, join the Qtrade team. In one transaction we expanded our wealth management offering, added significant depth to our fund management team and gained tremendous new shareholder strength."

Meritas Mutual Funds' head office will continue to be located in Kitchener Ontario with regional representation across Canada servicing the advisor community. Qtrade will continue to be based in Vancouver BC with an Eastern Canada office being created in Kitchener Ontario to serve its growing client base in Ontario and surrounding provinces.

About the Qtrade Financial Group

The Qtrade Financial Group provides comprehensive brokerage and wealth management platforms, services and solutions to the retail public as well as the customers of over 180 financial institutions across Canada. Since 1999, Qtrade has been dedicated to providing its financial institution partners with a single source for market-leading wealth management products and services including: online, full-service and institutional brokerage services, mutual fund dealer services, insurance dealer services, portfolio management and discretionary money management services and proprietary managed money solutions.

For further information: Qtrade Financial Group, Pamela Patton, Director, Marketing & Partner Relations, T [phone], E [email protected]