MutualFundWire.com: New Fund Group Gives Away Mandate
MutualFundWire.com
   The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

New Fund Group Gives Away Mandate


SEI has picked up an outsourcing mandate for a newly formed fund group. Frost Investment Advisors, which launched its first ten funds in June, has chosen SEI to provide full service fund operations outsourcing for its $1.7 billion fund complex.

Tom Stringfellow, president of Frost Investment Advisors, said that leveraging SEI's services will allow the firm to focus on growing its fund business and not worry about building its own platform.




Company Press Release

OAKS, Pa., July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SEI (Nasdaq: SEIC) today announced that it has been selected by Frost Investment Advisors to provide full service fund operations outsourcing for its $1.7 billion mutual fund offering. The deal is the latest in a series of outsourcing wins for SEI. The company believes this growth will continue as fund managers look to outsourcing partners for turnkey capabilities as they expand their investment products to target new distribution channels and grow assets.

SEI's series trust solution, known as Advisors' Inner Circle, allows investment managers like Frost to reduce time to market and quickly gain scale and efficiencies by leveraging SEI's infrastructure. SEI is one of the industry's leaders in the series trust space with more than 15 years of experience and over $18 billion in assets. The comprehensive solution encompasses fund administration, accounting, investor servicing and distribution services. In addition, Frost benefits from an independent and established board of trustees, a complete compliance program, and scaled infrastructure. SEI's deep experience in the mutual fund industry and its strong distribution capabilities were pointed to as key factors in the selection process for Frost.

"As investment managers begin to package their expertise into different investment products to target additional pools of assets, they're looking to implement a scalable infrastructure quickly," said Phil Masterson, Managing Director, for SEI's Investment Manager Services division. "Frost's goal is to grow this fund family, and our solution gives them a best-in-class environment in which to do so. At the same time, we're using our distribution expertise to help them reach their objectives. We're excited to partner with Frost to support their growth."

"We've worked with SEI in other aspects of our business, and we've seen the strength of their expertise and infrastructure first-hand," said Tom Stringfellow, President of Frost Investment Advisors. "With SEI as our partner, we can focus on growing our mutual fund business without having to worry about building a platform to compete. We look forward to growing with them for years to come."

About Frost Investment Advisors

Frost Investment Advisors is a Registered Investment Advisor entity and a subsidiary of Frost that provides institutional investors access to 13 Frost-managed mutual funds. Previously, the funds were part of Frost's proprietary commingled funds and were only available to trust clients and through qualified employee retirement plans. Frost is the banking, investments and insurance subsidiary of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR), a financial holding company headquartered in San Antonio, with assets of $13.7 billion and trust assets of $23.9 billion as of June 30, 2008. The corporation provides a full range of business and consumer banking products, investment and brokerage services, insurance products and investment banking services. Frost operates more than 100 financial centers across Texas in the Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio regions. Founded in 1868, Frost is one of the largest banking organizations headquartered in Texas, with a legacy of helping Texans with their financial needs during three centuries. For more information, visit http://www.frostbank.com.

About SEI's Investment Manager Services Division

SEI's Investment Manager Services division provides total operations outsourcing solutions to global investment managers focused on mutual funds, hedge and private equity funds, exchange traded funds, collective trusts, separately managed accounts and institutional and private client services. The unit applies operating services, technologies, and business and regulatory knowledge to each client's business objectives. Its resources enable clients to meet the demands of the marketplace and sharpen business strategies by focusing on their core competencies.

About SEI

SEI (Nasdaq: SEIC) is a leading global provider of outsourced asset management, investment processing and investment operations solutions. The company's innovative solutions help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and affluent families create and manage wealth. As of June 30, 2008, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI administers $420 billion in mutual fund and pooled assets and manages $178 billion in assets. SEI serves clients, conducts or is registered to conduct business and/or operations, from more than 20 offices in over a dozen countries. For more information, visit http://www.seic.com.


Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=18912

Copyright 2008, InvestmentWires, Inc.
All Rights Reserved