Wells Fargo Funds Management has acquired SIFE, which advises, administrates, and distributes the SIFE Trust Fund, a spokesperson with Wells Fargo told the MutualFundWire.com. The fund will be renamed the Wells Fargo SIFE Specialized Financial Services Fund.

"We were looking to include a financial services sector fund into our family," the official reported. "And when we went looking for a sub-advisor, we discovered SIFE. They had a fund they had been managing since 1962, which was four-star rated. And they were for sale. Not only do we get the fund we were looking for, but we get 18,000 new shareholders for our system."

Michael Stead, fund manager at SIFE, began his first day on the job at Wells Fargo today. SIFE employees -- who worked in the firm's office in Walnut Creek, California -- will now report for duty at Wells Fargo's offices in San Francisco.

"We are open to purchasing other similar firms," the spokesperson concluded. 

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