Here is the news release that announced the Touchstone-Sentinel agreement this week.
CINCINNATI – April 19, 2017 – Touchstone Investments and Sentinel Asset Management, Inc. (Sentinel), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of National Life Holding Company, announced today that Touchstone Advisors, Inc. (Touchstone), a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern), has agreed to acquire certain assets relating to Sentinel’s business of providing investment advisory and investment management services to the Sentinel mutual funds.
The acquisition is expected to increase Touchstone’s assets under management to approximately $20 billion.
Sentinel currently manages 11 mutual fund strategies with combined assets under management of $5.54 billion as of Feb. 28, 2017.
Under the terms of the purchase agreement, nine Sentinel retail funds and four Sentinel variable products funds will be reorganized into either existing Touchstone funds or into newly created Touchstone funds, and after the reorganizations, the funds will be advised by Touchstone.
It is anticipated that the Sentinel Small Company and International Equity Funds will be reorganized into newly created Touchstone funds that will be managed by the current Sentinel teams as part of Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.’s (Fort Washington) team of investment professionals. Fort Washington is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern. The Sentinel Common Stock Fund is expected to be reorganized into a newly created Touchstone fund that will be managed by a team led by Jamie Wilhelm, managing director and head of Public Equities at Fort Washington. Wilhelm and his team currently manage the Touchstone Focused Fund. The Sentinel Balanced Fund is expected to be reorganized into a newly created Touchstone fund that will be managed by a team led by Timothy J. Policinski, managing director and senior portfolio manager at Fort Washington.
The Sentinel Government Securities, Total Return Bond, Low Duration Bond, Multi-Asset Income and Sustainable Core Opportunities Funds are expected to be reorganized into existing Touchstone funds that will continue to be managed by the existing Touchstone funds’ current investment professionals at Fort Washington, ClearArc Capital, Inc., and Rockefeller & Co., Inc.
The Sentinel Unconstrained Bond Fund is not included in the terms of the purchase agreement.
It is anticipated that the Sentinel Variable Products Balanced, Bond, Common Stock and Small Company Funds will be reorganized into newly created Touchstone variable series funds, in each case managed by investment professionals at Fort Washington, except for the Small Company variable fund which will continue to be managed by the current Small Company portfolio management team.
Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the boards of Sentinel Group Funds, Inc., and Sentinel Variable Products Trust, as well as the approval of the shareholders of each applicable series of Sentinel Group Funds, Inc. and Sentinel Variable Products Trust, and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017. The board of trustees of the Touchstone funds has approved the transaction.
“Touchstone remains dedicated to its sub-advised mutual fund approach and is committed to offering investment products based on partnerships with premier money managers. This acquisition reflects Touchstone’s continued commitment to providing investors with access to best-in-class institutional money managers through its mutual funds,” said Steven M. Graziano, president of Touchstone Investments. “We also believe strongly in the value that financial advisors provide to the private client and institutional marketplace. As such, Touchstone distributes its funds through third-party intermediaries like registered investment advisors, private banks and consultants, as well as through national, regional and independent broker-dealers.”
“We believe that our Sentinel fund shareholders will be well served by the Touchstone family,” said Mehran Assadi, president and CEO of National Life Group. “Touchstone’s deep commitment to the retail mutual fund business, its investment strategies and shareholder services are very much in line with those of Sentinel. Touchstone will be a good home for our fund shareholders.”
Berkshire Capital Securities LLC and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP are advising Sentinel on the transaction.
About Touchstone Investments
Touchstone Investments is a Distinctively Active mutual fund company committed to providing investors with access to institutional asset managers who act in a sub-advisory capacity. Managed by sub-advisors with high conviction, concentrated portfolios, Touchstone’s entire equity fund lineup is composed of high Active Share funds which means their holdings are highly differentiated from their benchmarks. Touchstone’s sub-advisor selection and monitoring approach is built upon the conviction that an asset manager’s organizational stability, quality of its personnel, adherence to its investment discipline and infrastructure represent the elements of repeatable, value-added performance results over time. This philosophy has resulted in a diverse but focused product offering that gives investors a full breadth of investment options across styles and asset classes. The Touchstone Funds are advised by Touchstone Advisors, Inc., a registered investment adviser, and are distributed nationally through intermediaries including broker-dealers, financial planners and institutions by Touchstone Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Touchstone, Touchstone Funds and Touchstone Investments are federal service mark registrations and applications owned by IFS Financial Services, Inc. Touchstone Securities, Inc., Touchstone Advisors, Inc., and IFS Financial Services, Inc., are members of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern). For more information, please visit TouchstoneInvestments.com.
About Fort Washington
Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. (Fort Washington) was founded in May 1990 as the primary investment management subsidiary of The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company (Western & Southern Life) and is an SEC-registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (as amended) with approximately $49.5 billion assets under management.* Fort Washington is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern.
*Assets as of Dec.31, 2016. Includes assets under management by Fort Washington of $46.2 billion and $3.3 billion in commitments managed by Fort Washington Capital Partners Group (FW Capital), a division, and Peppertree Partners LLC, a subsidiary. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Western & Southern Financial Group
Founded in Cincinnati in 1888 as The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc. (Western & Southern), a Fortune 500 company, is now the parent company of a group of diversified financial services businesses. Currently, its assets owned ($46 billion) and managed ($22 billion) total $68 billion. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world. Its six life insurance subsidiaries (The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company, The Lafayette Life Insurance Company and National Integrity Life Insurance Company) maintain very strong financial ratings and a Comdex Ranking of 96. Other member companies include Eagle Realty Group, LLC; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.1; IFS Financial Services, Inc.; Peppertree Partners LLC1; Touchstone Advisors, Inc.1; Touchstone Securities, Inc.2; W&S Brokerage Services, Inc.2; and W&S Financial Group Distributors, Inc. For more information on the Western & Southern family of companies, visit www.westernsouthern.com. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of the Western & Southern Open (www.wsopen.com), a premier event in the U.S. Open Series played each August by the world’s top-ranked professional male and female tennis players.
1 A registered investment advisor.
2 A registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC.
For current ratings, please visit https://www.westernsouthern.com/industry.asp.
About Sentinel Asset Management
Headquartered in Montpelier, Vermont, Sentinel Asset Management, Inc. is a diversified asset management firm offering U.S. equity, international equity, and fixed income asset management services in mutual fund, corporate, and sub-advisory accounts. The firm is dedicated to fundamental bottom-up research and is attentive to managing downside risk. Sentinel offers portfolios built around its core asset strengths. The portfolios are managed by specialized independent teams, led by managers with deep industry experience. The teams follow clearly stated goals for market capitalization, duration and other investment characteristics, without taking extreme style bets.
About National Life
At National Life, our story is simple: For 168 years we’ve worked hard to deliver on our promises to millions of people with our vision of providing peace of mind in times of need. It’s our cause, stemming from a deep passion to live our values to do good, be good and make good, every day. Learn more at NationalLife.com. National Life Group® is a trade name of National Life Insurance Company, founded in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1848, Life Insurance Company of the Southwest, Addison, Texas, chartered in 1955, and their affiliates. Each company of National Life Group is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. Life Insurance Company of the Southwest is not an authorized insurer in New York and does not conduct insurance business in New York. The companies of Sentinel Investments are members of National Life Group. All other entities are independent of National Life Group.
Sentinel Investments® is the unifying brand name for Sentinel Financial Services Company, Sentinel Asset Management, Inc., and Sentinel Administrative Services, Inc. Sentinel Funds are distributed by Sentinel Financial Services Company, Member FINRA, One National Life Drive, Montpelier, Vermont 05604. (800) 282-3863.
Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of a Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus and the summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Fund. To obtain a prospectus or a summary prospectus for Touchstone Funds, contact your financial advisor or download and/or request one at TouchstoneInvestments.com/literature-center or call Touchstone at 800-638-8194; for Sentinel Funds please click on sentinelinvestments.com. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before investing.
TC95114(0417)1