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  • Seller
  • Buyer
  • Type
  • Date Announced
  • Seller AUM
  • Columbia Management Advisors, LLC (Bank of America Corporation)
  • MFS Investment Management
  • Mutual Fund
  • April 11, 2007
  • $1.2 Billion

Seller Details

The Colonial Funds are a family of seven closed-end fixed income funds with $1.2 billion of AUM as of March 31, 2007. The Funds' advisor, Columbia Management Advisors, is based in Boston, MA, and is the primary investment management division of Bank of America. Columbia Management offers products across an array of asset classes and investment styles to both individual and institutional investors. As of December 31, 2006, Columbia Management and affiliates had $542.9 billion in assets under management.

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.

Buyer Details

MFS Investment Management traces its origins to 1924 and the creation of America's first mutual fund, Massachusetts Investors Trust. The firm created the first in-house research department in the mutual fund industry in 1932. MFS offers a complete product line of mutual funds, separately managed accounts, institutional money management, and offshore investment products. The firm's research platform includes more that 160 investment professionals in investment offices at its headquarters in Boston and in offices in London, Mexico City, Singapore and Tokyo.

By conducting its own research, MFS has historically been able to achieve competitive long-term performance. MFS manages $187 billion in assets on behalf of more than 5 million individual and institutional investors worldwide as of December 31, 2006. MFS currently manages six closed-end funds totaling $2.8 billion in assets.

MFS' parent company is Sun Life Financial, a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Sun Life Financial Inc trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol SLF.

Transaction Summary

The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter of 2007, subject to shareholder approval, will transfer investment management of the Funds to MFS. 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.

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