Paul Desmarais III, Sagard chair and chief executive officer, in January, 2020.

Sagard Holdings Inc. is buying Swiss boutique asset manager Unigestion’s private-equity business, expanding its reach in a fast-changing market for private assets that is courting a new wave of wealthy individual investors.

Montreal-based Sagard, an alternative asset manager and subsidiary of the Desmarais family’s Power Corp. of Canada POW-T , is merging Unigestion’s private equity manager with its own, adding US$12.5-billion of private equity assets.

The combined US$23-billion private equity business will focus on investments in funds and co-investment with fund partners, as well as the burgeoning secondary market for buying and selling stakes in existing funds.

Unigestion’s non-private-equity busines

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