Fifth Third Selling Mutual Fund, Money Market Assets

The asset-management arm of Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) announced Thursday that it is selling the assets of 16 mutual funds and about $5 billion in money market fund assets in two separate transactions.

Touchstone Advisors, a unit of Cincinnati-based Western & Southern Financial Group, is buying the mutual funds and Federated Investors (FII), the nation's third-largest provider of money market mutual funds, has agreed to purchase the money fund assets. Deal prices were not disclosed, though Fifth Third said in news releases that neither deal would have a "material impact" on the company's results. Both sales are expected to close in the third quarter.

In an interview Thursday, Phil McHugh, an executive vice president at the $117 billion-asset Fifth Third and head of the bank's investment advisory division, said that the deals would allow Fifth Third to better focus its resources on institutional clients and ultra-high-net worth individuals, two areas where it sees more opportunity for growth. He added that under terms of its agreement with Touchstone the buyer intends to retain Fifth Third Asset Management as a sub-advisor, a relationship that would generate fee income for Fifth Third.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
M&A
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER