Cypress Holding Co. has agreed to buy North American Security Life Insurance Co.'s $800 million mutual fund family for an undisclosed sum.
Boston-based Cypress was founded last year to buy up and combine mutual funds cast off by banks that want to exit the business. The company plans eventually to sell its funds through banks.
The acquisition of funds from Boston's North American would be Cypress' first.
"The North American Funds are the perfect platform for Cypress, because they offer a broad range of investment options served by high-caliber subadvisers," said Bradford K. Gallagher, president of Cypress.
Of North American's 13 fund portfolios, almost 70% of assets are in equity funds. It has one money market fund and one municipal fund.
Cypress' plans also call for adding new products to North American's fund menu. These are likely to include a "lifestyle" or asset-allocation fund and a prime rate fund that Cypress would subadvise, said Joseph T. Grause Jr., a Cypress executive vice president.
Among the eight subadvisers currently managing the fund family's assets are T. Rowe Price, J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Morgan Stanley, and Wellington Investment Management.
Cypress executives want the company eventually to manage $10 billion to $15 billion of assets, Mr. Grause said. While he declined to comment on the deal price, industry standards say a buyer is likely to pay slightly less than 2% of assets under management for funds that are subadvised. Using that guideline, Cypress is likely to have paid $16 million for the North American fund complex.
