TSX Symbol: CIX TORONTO, Jan. 5 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today reported gross sales of $11.6 billion and net sales of $1.8 billion for the calendar year 2008. For the month of December 2008, CI had gross sales of $827 million and net sales of $142 million. Assets under management grew 1.8% over the month to $54.6 billion at December 31, 2008. CI's total fee-earning assets at the end of the year were $80.0 billion. "In spite of extremely volatile market conditions in 2008, CI achieved positive net sales over the course of the year and one of the highest levels of net sales in the industry," said Stephen A. MacPhail, CI President. "In fact, net sales of long-term funds of $2.1 billion were comparable to the previous year's. Our positive sales can be attributed to the diversity and strength of our lineup of products and portfolio managers, and to the success of last year's product launches." CI's top-selling products in 2008 included SunWise Elite Plus Segregated Funds, Harbour funds, Cambridge funds, and Portfolio Series. New products during the year included the addition of a guaranteed income for life option to the SunWise Elite Plus funds, the Cambridge funds managed by Alan Radlo, Evolution Private Managed Accounts offered by United Financial, and tax-free savings accounts, which are now available for investment. "While 2008 was a very difficult year, we are starting the new year in a strong competitive position," said Mr. MacPhail. CI's funds continue to be highly ranked, with 62 mutual and segregated funds offered by CI Investments holding the top five-star rating from Morningstar Canada and another 172 having a four-star rating (as of November 30, 2008). At the 2008 Canadian Investment Awards, CI Investments and its portfolio managers received six awards, including the prestigious Fund Manager of the Year award for Gerry Coleman, head of Harbour Advisors. In December, total net sales by CI subsidiaries CI Investments Inc. and United Financial Corporation consisted of net sales of long-term funds of $116 million and net sales of money market funds of $44 million. In addition, there were $18 million in net redemptions related to deposit notes, which use asset allocation strategies in which money is moved out of mutual funds when markets are declining. These institutional transactions reflect a rebalancing of the deposit notes and not a redemption by clients from the product. Assets under management at December 31, 2008 consisted of investment funds at CI Investments and United Financial of $50.4 billion, institutional assets of $3.8 billion and structured product assets of $368 million. CI also reported assets under administration of $24.4 billion, consisting of $18.2 billion at Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. and $6.2 billion at Blackmont Capital Inc. Other fee-earning assets totalled $1.1 billion. In other recent developments, CI completed its conversion from an income trust to a corporation effective January 1, 2009. Units of CI Financial Income Fund were exchanged for common shares on a one-for-one basis. CI common shares are now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CIX." CI expects to release its financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ending December 31, 2008 on February 24, 2009. Additional information about CI's sales, assets and financial position can be found below in the tables of preliminary statistics and on its website, www.ci.com/cix, in the Statistics section. The sales and assets reported in this release are the only statistics authorized by CI and CI takes no responsibility for reporting by any external sources. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CI FINANCIAL INCOME FUND December 31, 2008 MONTH-END STATISTICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MONTHLY SALES DATA GROSS SALES REDEMPTIONS NET SALES RETAIL MANAGED FUNDS (millions) (millions) (millions) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long-term funds $687 $571 $116 Short-term funds $140 $96 $44 Sales related to deposit notes $0 $18 -$18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS $827 $685 $142 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEE-EARNING ASSETS November 30/08 December 31/08 % (millions) (millions) Change ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Retail managed funds $49,645 $50,449 1.6% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Structured products 402 368 -8.5% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL retail assets under management $50,047 $50,817 1.5% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Institutional managed assets 3,580 3,753 4.8% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL assets under management $53,627 $54,570 1.8% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Assante assets under administration(*) 18,057 18,238 1.0% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blackmont assets under administration 6,189 6,174 -0.2% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL assets under administration $24,246 $24,412 0.7% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CI other fee-earning assets 1,048 1,053 0.5% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL FEE-EARNING ASSETS $78,921 $80,035 1.4% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- AVERAGE RETAIL ASSETS November 30/08 December 31/08 % UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monthly $49,723 $48,994 -1.5% Quarter-to-date $51,084 $50,380 -1.4% Fiscal year-to-date $61,246 $60,208 -1.7% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FISCAL AVERAGE RETAIL ASSETS Fiscal 2007 Fiscal 2008 % UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fiscal year average retail assets $64,958 $60,208 -7.3% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- EQUITY FINANCIAL POSITION (millions unless otherwise indicated) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- LP units 57,735,304 Bank debt $999 Trust units 236,868,309 Cash & marketable securities -75 Total outstanding -------------------------------------- units(xxx) 294,603,613 Net debt outstanding $924 QTD weighted avg. -------------------------------------- units 277,712,938 Yield at $14.50 3.3% In-the-money option liability In-the-money options 973,073 (net of tax) $1 Percentage of all options 28% Terminal redemption value of All options % of units 1.2% funds $806 Quarter-to-date equity-based compensation(xx) -$1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (*) Includes CI and United Financial investment fund assets administered by Assante advisors. (xx) Estimate partially based on marked-to-market pre-tax option expense accrual from change in unit price and vesting from last quarter-end ($18.00) to December 31, 2008 ($14.50). (xxx) Effective Jan. 1, 2009, all LP and Trust units were converted to common shares. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- GEOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF AUM ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada 44% Asia 4% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States 24% Other 3% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Europe 9% Cash 16% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CI FINANCIAL INCOME FUND December 31, 2008 YEAR-END STATISTICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- YEAR-TO-DATE GROSS SALES REDEMPTIONS NET SALES SALES DATA (millions) (millions) (millions) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long-term funds $9,583 $7,465 $2,118 Short-term funds $1,603 $1,118 $485 Sales related to deposit notes $416 $1,267 -$851 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS $11,602 $9,850 $1,752 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- December 31/07 December 31/08 % FEE-EARNING ASSETS (millions) (millions) Change ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Retail managed funds $63,626 $50,449 -20.7% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Structured products 531 368 -30.7% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL retail assets under management $64,157 $50,817 -20.8% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Institutional managed assets 4,972 3,753 -24.5% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL assets under management $69,129 $54,570 -21.1% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Assante assets under administration(*) 25,657 18,238 -28.9% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blackmont assets under administration 9,129 6,174 -32.4% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL assets under administration $34,786 $24,412 -29.8% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CI other fee-earning assets 1,662 1,053 -36.6% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL FEE-EARNING ASSETS $105,577 $80,035 -24.2% ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CI FINANCIAL INCOME FUND 2008 MONTHLY SALES SUMMARY ($ millions)(xx) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NET MONTHLY SALES DATA GROSS LONG-TERM RETAIL MANAGED FUNDS SALES REDEMPTIONS NET SALES SALES(xxx) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- January $1,028 $1,518 -$490 -$222 February $1,249 $735 $514 $381 March $1,167 $715 $452 $441 April $913 $743 $170 $113 May $988 $723 $265 $201 June $1,149 $707 $442 $304 July $858 $662 $196 $189 August $665 $550 $115 $79 September $1,134 $982 $152 $380 October $836 $1,176 -$340 $10 November $788 $654 $134 $126 December $827 $685 $142 $116 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS $11,602 $9,850 $1,752 $2,118 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (*) Includes CI and United Financial investment fund assets administered by Assante advisors. (xx) CI is the only source of accurate sales and asset data for its investment funds. (xxx) Net of short-term fund sales and sales related to deposit notes. CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company. CI offers a broad range of investment products and services, including an industry-leading selection of investment funds, and is on the Web at www.ci.com/cix. This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to CI and its products and services, including its business operations and strategy and financial performance and condition. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, including interest rates, business competition, changes in government regulations or in tax laws, and other factors discussed in materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time.
For further information:
For further information: Stephen A. MacPhail, President, (416) 364-1145
CI Financial Corp.
CI Investments Inc.
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