Sun Life Financial, in response to "speculation" that it plans to sell its MFS Investment Management money management unit, issued a statement saying that although it had "retained investment bankers to advise on strategic alternatives," that move won't necessarily result in a transaction involving MFS.
Sun Life "values MFS as a strategic asset and remains committed to growing the business organically while assessing strategic alternatives," according to the release. MFS is attracting institutional flows at home and abroad and has had "significant margin improvement" over the past year, the release said.
According to published reports, Sun Life retained Morgan Stanley to shop MFS, with a potential price tag of $4 billion, and that a bidding war for MFS could lift the price tag to $8 billion. Morgan Stanley spokesman Mark Lake declined to comment. Sun Life spokeswoman Susan Jantzi wasn't immediately available for comment.
Sun Life's shares were up 1.75% in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, better than the S&P 500's 0.2% gain.
