New York Life Insurance is looking to acquire one or more mutual fund companies, according to one of the company’s top executives.
“We are looking for a firm with about $15 (billion) to $25 billion with funds that have strong track records,” said Christopher Blunt, executive vice president in charge of retirement income security.
The company wants to boost the assets of the firm’s MainStay Funds, which now have $25 billion in assets, Mr. Blunt added.
Since the economic downturn began last year, a number of distressed financial institutions have sold off portions — or in some cases all — of their money management operations. Even though asset valuations have come up, many boards still want to sell their funds and focus on their core businesses, Mr. Blunt said.
“Our fund complex makes very little money,” he said, explaining why buying another firm would make sense. “We are right at the break-even point and buying a fund business would contribute to our bottom line.”
The firm has no timetable for when it would make an acquisition, but Mr. Blunt said it is in talks with a number of firms. New York Life, he said, is also in discussions to team up with another fund company to help with distribution or product development.
“The advantage of partnering with a big money manager is speed to market,” Mr. Blunt said.
Jessica Toonkel Marquez is a reporter at InvestmentNews, a sister publication of Pensions & Investments.
