Pioneer Investment Management signed a definitive agreement to acquire the mutual fund business of AmSouth Bancorporation, the two companies announced today.
The deal transfers 23 AmSouth mutual funds with $5.5 billion in assets under management. Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, it should be completed by the third quarter, said Pioneer spokeswoman Tara Pescatore.
"Because it has become more difficult and expensive for small mutual fund families to compete effectively, we have decided to focus on the key services that have distinguished our asset management business for the past 80 years," Dowd Ritter, AmSouth chairman, president and CEO, said in a news release.
Neither side would reveal the price Pioneer will pay for the assets, but AmSouth anticipates a pretax gain of approximately $50 million, according to its news release.
This will be Pioneer's second major recent mutual fund purchase; in December it acquired 22 Safeco mutual funds with $3.1 billion in assets under management. According to an SEC filing, most of the AmSouth mutual funds will be consolidated into existing Pioneer funds.
