MutualFundWire.com: Sentinel Chief Talks M&A
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Friday, April 18, 2008

Sentinel Chief Talks M&A


Sentinel Investments president and chief executive Christian Thwaites expects his company to experience 100 percent growth in the next two to three years. The growth, he said in an interview with The MFWire, will come from both organic sources and M&A.

Christian Thwaites
Sentinel Investments
President & CEO
Despite the current credit crunch, Thwaites said there are still deals to be made in the market.

The first variety of deal Sentinel may consider is a bid for the assets of smaller fund firms that have one or two funds but can not gain scale. Sentinel just closed on a deal of this order when it purchased the assets of eight Citizens Funds.

Sentinel's Recent Deals
  • November 2007 -- Acquired Citizens Advisers, a socially responsible investment shop with $800 million in AUM.

  • May 2007 -- Acquired Synovus' mutual fund business, a Georgia-based fund shop with $484 million AUM

  • June 2006 -- Federated Capital Management acquired three Sentinel muni-funds with about $93 million AUM

  • January 2006 -- Acquired Bramwell Capital Management, with two mutual funds that were eventually merged into the Sentinel family

    • The second type of deal Thwaites mentioned is a purchase of whole fund shop. Thwaites said in this sort of transaction he would look for a smaller boutique that has yet to become a great success. Many of these types of firms are distribute only through the retail channel, he added.

    The last type of deal that could work for Sentinel, Thwaites said, is on the international level. He said Sentinel could form an alliance with a large international bank or insurance company that wants to have a presence in the U.S. fund market. This kind of deal would give Sentinel extended distribution, Thwaites said.

    The Citizens transaction marks the fourth mutual fund transaction, including three acquisitions and one sale, for Sentinel in the past two years.


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