Sun Life buys Advisors Asset Management

Sun Life Financial has made public its intention to purchase a controlling shareholding in the retail distribution company Advisors Asset Management, which is situated in the United States (AAM).

Sun Life has stated that the transaction will be carried out by SLC Management, which is the institutional fixed income and alternatives asset manager for the insurance company. Sun Life will purchase a 51% share in AAM for 214 million US dollars, subject to the usual amendments. Sun Life will also receive a put/call option to purchase the balance 49% of AAM beginning in 2028.

A further commitment made by Sun Life is to invest up to US$400 million in the launch of alternative products managed by SLC Management for the US retail market. These products will be supplied by AAM.

As a result of the transaction, AAM will take on the role of SLC Management’s retail distribution arm in the United States.

Steve Peacher, the president of SLC Management, expressed his excitement about the impending merger between AAM and his company. As high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors seek to add new resource of yield and total return, “We’ve Seen a Sustained Increase in Demand for Alternatives from the High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Market,”

Adding AAM to our platform enables us to extend our set of world-class alternative investment capabilities to new clients and expands the roster of investment solutions that AAM can offer to the market of financial advisors in the United States, said Peacher. “We’ve been aiming to enter into the retail distribution subsector for some time now,” said Peacher. “Adding AAM to our framework helps us to increase our set of world-class investment management capabilities to new clients.”

As part of the agreement, AAM will have exclusive rights to market and promote SLC Management’s specified alternative investment products to the US retail market. The team at AAM is composed primarily of over 270 professionals. AAM provides a variety of services and products. to financial advisors working at wirehouses, registered financial advisers (RIA), and independent broker details.

According to a press statement from the corporation, as of the 31st of July in 2022, AAM manages assets worth $41.4 billion USD.

Kevin Strain, president and CEO of Sun Life Financial, stated on a conference call following the relaunch of the business’s performance results for the second quarter of 2022 that the organization is concentrating on its “digital priorities” in Canada. The company reported that in the first six months of 2022, 85 percent of life insurance applications submitted in Canada were processed digitally.