Hartford Financial Services Group will expand its ties with Wellington Management Co., making Wellington the sole subadviser for Hartford’s almost $100 billion in mutual fund assets.
Hartford said it had reached a “preferred partnership agreement” with Wellington, under which Wellington will take on oversight of Hartford’s fixed-income funds; the firm already subadvises Hartford’s equity mutual funds, according to a Hartford news release.
Pending a “fund-by-fund review by the Hartford Mutual Funds’ board of directors,” Wellington will assume oversight of Hartford’s bond mutual funds from the parent company’s in-house investment arm, Hartford Investment Management, according to the release.
Hartford spokesman Robert DeMallie couldn’t immediately provide a specific AUM figure for the company’s total assets in fixed-income mutual funds. A tally by Morningstar listed 17 fixed-income funds with just less than $19 billion in assets.
Hartford Investment Management remains “an important part of The Hartford and will focus its third-party asset management business on the institutional market,” Liam E. McGee, Hartford’s chairman, president and CEO, said in the release.
Investment bankers said Mr. McGee had been shopping the mutual fund business over the past year, but ultimately decided to hold on to the business.
In the news release, Mr. McGee called the expanded relationship with Wellington a means of “accelerating (the company’s) growth plans for the mutual fund business.”
Hartford will concentrate on mutual fund distribution, adding 50 employees to its distribution team over the next several months, according to the release.
Sara Sherman, a spokeswoman for Wellington, declined to comment.
