Mutual funds

Federated Investors, Inc. is acquiring $5 billion of money market assets from four Fifth Third money market funds and merging them into four existing Federated money market funds.

“I am very excited about this transaction. In addition to increasing our assets under management, it gives us some new and interesting fund offerings, and access to a premier distribution system,” says Steven M. Graziano, president of Touchstone.

Just five months after agreeing to buy Old Mutual Asset Management’s funds from the firm’s U.S. mutual fund business, Cincinnati, Ohio-based Touchstone Advisors today revealed that it is acquiring the assets of 16 mutual funds from Fifth Third Bancorp.

There were 7,693 mutual funds at the end of February 2012, according data from the Investment Company Institute.

The Exchange Traded Products (ETP) industry recorded its best ever start to a year, attracting net new assets of $67.3billion in the first quarter of 2012, a 57% increase over the $42.8billion gained in the first quarter of 2011, according to the Q1 2012 ETP Landscape Report released by BlackRock. The first quarter 2011 figure had previously been the best annual start on record.

Investors continue to spurn mutual funds that invest long-term in U.S. stocks, according to the latest statistics from the Investment Company Institute. For the week ended March 28, investors pulled $3.53 billion from domestic stock funds, the largest weekly outflow so far this year.

Investors continue to spurn mutual funds that invest long-term in U.S. stocks. For the week ended March 28, investors pulled $3.53 billion from the funds, the largest weekly outflow so far this year.

Bank of Montreal Global Asset Management has moved its defined contribution business away from its Institutional Trust services arm and given it a new brand name, BMO Retirement Services.

Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) has launched international hedged equity fund from Gateway Investment Advisers, LLC (Gateway), designed to play a conservative, risk-managed role in a portfolio allocation to international equity.

There were 7,693 mutual funds in February 2012, so how do women-managed funds find a way to stand out in this $12 trillion industry?

There were more than 8,500 mutual funds at the end of 2010, according to the 2011 Investment Company Fact Book. They range from long only equity and bond funds to alternative long/short mutual funds.

Milwaukee, Wisc.-based CliftonLarsonAllen Wealth Advisors has teamed up with Academy Asset Management, a Philadelphia, Pa.-based investment advisor to launch Innovator Management LLC, purveyor of the Innovator Matrix income Fund.

Independent mutual fund service provider Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC has hired Kirk Littleton as director of business development to help the company double its business within the next seven years.

Principal Funds has added three new regional directors to the firm’s investment only team: Marcel Dawson, Gary Nakamura and Pamela Suing. Each will focus on growth within the registered investment advisor distribution channel.

Investors’ confidence rose during the first quarter of 2012, according to the newly-released John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index.

BlackRock Investments Canada Inc. has appointed Mary Anne Wiley managing director and head of its combined exchange-traded fund business, replacing Som Seif, founder and chief executive of the recently-acquired Claymore Investments, Inc.

Stewart Capital Advisors, LLC, the investment advisor for Stewart Capital Mutual Funds, said that it has made the Stewart Capital Mid Cap Fund available as a no-load mutual fund effective April 1.

RiverPark Advisors LLC, a New York-based investment advisory company, has launched the RiverPark Long/Short Opportunity Fund, an open-end mutual fund that was converted from an existing hedge fund launched in October 2009.

Invesco’s shareholders of the Invesco High Income Municipal Fund and the Invesco U.S. Mid Cap Value Fund today approved a plan to merge those funds into the Invesco Van Kampen High Yield Municipal Fund and Invesco Van Kampen American Value Fund.

Aristotle Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor focused primarily on managing separate accounts for institutions and high net-worth investors, has launched its first mutual fund—employing many of the go-anywhere strategies it employs for these high-net clients.