TSX Symbol: CIX
TORONTO, May 1 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today reported gross sales of $575 million and net sales of $59 million in April. Assets under management increased by $2.9 billion or 5.4% over the month to $56.1 billion at April 30, 2009. Total fee-earning assets were $82.1 billion, an increase of $4.1 billion or 5.2%.
"This is the second straight month where assets have grown by more than 5%, resulting in CI's assets under management increasing by about $6 billion since February 28," said Stephen A. MacPhail, CI President. "This is very positive news for investors in our funds as the gains reflect significantly improved equity values since early March."
CI subsidiaries CI Investments Inc. and United Financial Corporation had combined retail net sales of $82 million in long-term funds and net redemptions of $23 million in money market funds.
Also in March, CI Investments completed the initial public offering of Trident Performance Corp. II for total gross proceeds of $44 million. (This amount is not included in CI's sales but is reflected in assets under management for structured products.) The closed-end fund, which trades on the TSX under the symbol TCZ, provides exposure to a portfolio managed by Trident Investment Management, LLC of New York, which is led by Chief Investment Officer Nandu Narayanan.
Assets under management at April 30, 2009, consisted of investment funds at CI Investments and United Financial of $51.7 billion, institutional assets of $3.9 billion and structured product assets of $439 million. CI also reported assets under administration of $25.2 billion, which consisted of $18.6 billion in assets under administration at Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. and $6.6 billion in assets under administration at Blackmont Capital Inc. Other fee-earning assets totalled $834 million.
In other developments in March, Lipper announced that CI Investments had received 11 Lipper Fund Awards. The Lipper Fund Awards program highlights funds that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance, relative to peers. Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company, is a global fund research and analysis organization.
"These awards provide additional recognition of the strength of CI's lineup of portfolio managers, and are consistent with CI's long-time leadership in having the most funds with four and five-star ratings from Morningstar Canada," Mr. MacPhail said.
Additional information about CI's sales, assets and financial position can be found below in the tables of preliminary statistics and on its website, www.ci.com/cix, in the Statistics section. The sales and assets reported in this release are the only statistics authorized by CI and CI takes no responsibility for reporting by any external sources.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CI FINANCIAL CORP.
April 30, 2009
MONTH-END STATISTICS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONTHLY SALES DATA GROSS SALES REDEMPTIONS NET SALES
RETAIL MANAGED FUNDS (millions) (millions) (millions)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long-term funds $492 $410 $82
Short-term funds $83 $106 -$23
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS $575 $516 $59
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEE-EARNING ASSETS March 31/09 April 30/09 %
(millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retail managed funds $49,152 $51,728 5.2%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Structured products 379 439 15.8%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL retail assets under management $49,531 $52,167 5.3%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Institutional managed assets 3,667 3,917 6.8%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL assets under management $53,198 $56,084 5.4%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assante assets under administration(x) 17,680 18,617 5.3%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackmont assets under administration 6,225 6,566 5.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL assets under administration $23,905 $25,183 5.3%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CI other fee-earning assets 942 834 -11.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL FEE-EARNING ASSETS $78,045 $82,101 5.2%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONTHLY AVERAGE RETAIL March 31/09 April 30/09 %
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monthly average retail assets $47,828 $51,480 7.6%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUARTERLY AVERAGE RETAIL March 31/09 April 30/09 %
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quarterly average retail assets $48,681 $51,480 5.7%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FISCAL AVERAGE RETAIL ASSETS December 31/08 April 30/09 %
UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year average retail assets $60,208 $49,381 -18.0%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EQUITY FINANCIAL POSITION
(millions unless otherwise
indicated)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total outstanding shares 293,518,840 Bank debt $920
QTD weighted avg. shares 292,489,138 Cash and marketable
Yield at $15.70 3.1% securities (43)
In-the-money options 5,344,503 ----------------------------------
Percentage of all options 74% Net debt outstanding $877
All options % of shares 2.5% ----------------------------------
In-the-money option liability
(net of tax) $13
Terminal redemption value
of funds $795
Quarter-to-date equity-based
compensation(xx) $2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(x) Includes CI and United Financial investment fund assets administered
by Assante advisors.
(xx) Estimate partially based on marked-to-market pre-tax option expense
accrual from change in share price and vesting from last quarter-end
($13.99) to April 30, 2009 ($15.70).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF AUM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada 46% Asia 3%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 24% Other 4%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe 9% Cash 14%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company. CI offers a broad range of investment products and services, including an industry-leading selection of investment funds, and is on the Web at www.ci.com/cix.
This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to CI and its products and services, including its business operations and strategy and financial performance and condition. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, including interest rates, business competition, changes in government regulations or in tax laws, and other factors discussed in materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time.
