Columbia Management Advisors Agrees to Sell Its Colonial Closed-End Fund Management Business
11 April 2007 - 4:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOSTON, April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Columbia Management Advisors, LLC
(CMA), a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, today announced
that it has agreed to sell its Colonial closed-end fund management
business to MFS Investment Management (MFS), a registered
investment adviser and a subsidiary of Sun Life Financial. The sale
includes the business of managing seven closed-end fixed income
funds (the Funds). Shares of five of the Funds are listed on the
NYSE and shares of the other two Funds are listed on the AMEX. The
Funds had total managed assets of $1.2 billion and unleveraged
assets of $839 million (as of March 31, 2007). The transaction,
expected to close in the third quarter of 2007, subject to
shareholder approval, will transfer investment management of the
Funds to MFS. MFS currently manages six closed-end funds totaling
$2.8 billion in assets. The current Trustees of the Funds approved
the transaction on April 10, 2007. The Trustees of the MFS Funds
agreed to stand for election to the boards of the Funds. The
closing of the transaction is subject to various conditions,
including approval by shareholders of each Fund, approval of a new
investment advisory agreement with MFS, and election of new
trustees. The Board of Trustees of each Fund has called a meeting
of shareholders for June 22, 2007, at which shareholders will be
asked to approve the new investment advisory agreements, elect new
trustees and to take other action, which will be described in more
detail in the Proxy Statement for the meeting of shareholders. The
seven closed-end funds include: Colonial California Insured
Municipal Fund [CCA], Colonial High Income Municipal Trust [CXE],
Colonial InterMarket Income Trust I [CMK], Colonial Intermediate
High Income Fund [CIF], Colonial Investment Grade Municipal Trust
[CXH], Colonial Insured Municipal Fund [CFX] and Colonial Municipal
Income Trust [CMU]. MFS manages $187 billion in assets on behalf of
more than 5 million individual and institutional investors
worldwide as of December 31, 2006. The company traces its origins
to 1924 and the creation of America's first mutual fund,
Massachusetts Investors Trust. Columbia Management, based in
Boston, MA, is the primary investment management division of Bank
of America. Columbia Management, which offers products across an
array of asset classes and investment styles to both individual and
institutional investors, is focused on delivering strong investment
performance and superior client service. As of December 31, 2006,
Columbia Management and affiliates had $542.9 billion in assets
under management. (1) Bank of America is one of the world's largest
financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and
middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range
of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and
risk-management products and services. The company provides
unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 55
million consumer and small business relationships with more than
5,700 retail banking offices, through more than 17,000 ATMs and
award-winning online banking with more than 21 million active
users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business
Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA
lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves
clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of
the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 80 percent of the Global Fortune
500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE:BAC) is listed on the
New York Stock Exchange. http://www.bankofamerica.com/ (1) Columbia
Management and its affiliates comprise the wealth and investment
management division of Bank of America Corporation. As of December
31, 2006, Columbia Management and its affiliates managed assets of
$542.9 billion. Columbia Management and its affiliates managed
assets consists of assets under the discretionary management of the
three registered investment advisors, Columbia Management Advisors,
LLC ($345.0 billion), Columbia Wanger Asset Management, L.P. ($32.9
billion) and Marsico Capital Management, LLC ($83.6 billion); the
Bank of America Private Bank; Banc of America Investment Services,
Inc;, Banc of America Investment Advisors, Inc;, Bank of America
Capital Advisors, LLC, and Premier Banking and Investments.
DATASOURCE: Columbia Management Advisors, LLC CONTACT: Jon
Goldstein of Columbia Management Advisors, LLC, +1-617-434-7392, or
, or John Reilly of MFS Investment Management, +1-617-954-5305, or
Web site: http://www.bankofamerica.com/
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