Who will buy the Hartford's $104-billion mutual fund business? Bloomberg's Cristina Alesci, Andrew Frye and Zachary Mider reports that, according to anonymous sources, New York City-based leveraged buyout firm Clayton Dublier & Rice is still in the running, while Affiliated Managers Group and Nomura Holdings have dropped out.

The wire service claims the sale is only weeks away. The price is listed as up to $1.5 billion, which amounts to 1.44 percent of Hartford's $104 billion in assets under management. The unit brought in $178 million in revenue in Q1, netting $28 million in income. Hartford spokesman David Snowden declined to comment to Bloomberg.

CD&R isn't new to the mutual fund business. The LBO specialists bought out Van Kampen Merritt in 1993, combined it with another fund firm, then sold it to Morgan Stanley in 1996.

The Hartford-based insurer has reportedly had its mutual fund business (whose funds are sub-advised by Wellington and a separate Hartford asset management unit) on the block at least since mid-May [see The MFWire, 5/12/2011]. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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