Moving forward with its expansion moves, Federated Investors, Inc. FII completed the deal with Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. and The Huntington National Bank, subsidiaries of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated HBAN, announced in September. The company acquired assets worth around $930 million in money market fund assets of Huntington Asset Advisors. These assets relate to Huntington Asset Advisors’ management of two money market funds.
As per the deal, the assets were transitioned to Federated money market funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. Some assets were reorganized from the liquidated Huntington Money Market Fund in November and the remaining was reorganized from the Huntington U.S. Treasury Money Market Fund into Federated Treasury Obligations Fund.
"Many different types of organizations turn to Federated, a leading provider of liquidity management products and services, as they evaluate their cash-management needs," said Joe Machi, director of alliances at Federated. "We will continue to consider and evaluate alliance and acquisition opportunities with asset managers, banks, insurers and broker/dealers in the United States and around the world."
In order to comply with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2014 rules related to money market funds, Federated announced further improvements to its plans to restructure the product line and merge certain funds in November 2015. The Pittsburg-based investment manager expects completion of product changes before the end of this year. As part of the restructuring, the company is categorizing certain money market funds as institutional under Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act and 2014 rules. Previously, the company delineated certain funds as retail money market funds in June 2015 with the preliminary plan announced in February 2015.
Notably, in July 2015, Federated announced that it has completed the transition of nearly $4 billion in shareholder accounts from six money market funds of Reich & Tang Asset Management, LLC. Additionally, in June, Federated completed the acquisition of tax-free money market assets worth $91 million from Touchstone Advisors, Inc.
We remain encouraged by Federated’s strategic deals. Under the prevailing pressure in money market funds owing to the lingering low interest-rate environment and stringent regulations, acquiring money market assets depicts buoyancy of the company in the money market business.
Federated currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). A couple of other finance stocks worth considering include AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. AB and Woori Bank Co., Ltd. WF. Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #2.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Be the first to comment