Mutual funds that intend to grow through acquisition often fail to do so successfully, according to a study by
In 54% of cases, growth at merged companies, as measured by assets under management, lagged behind that of their peers. However, this is a marked improvement over the previous year, where 67% of the same firms failed to grow as well as their peers.
Cerulli concluded that organic growth is a surer strategy to grow assets under management, and U.S. fund companies that chose that path grew on average 17% over the eight years ending December 2001. Growth for the rest of the industry was 11% for the same period.
