National City is already on track to boosting its asset management business. The bank's fund group, Armada Funds, will fold in roughly $300 million in mutual fund assets as a result of National City's acquisition of Provident Bank.

National City finalized the acquisition on July 1.

Pending shareholder approval, each of the six funds in Provident Bank's Riverfront Funds family will be merged into a similar Armada Fund. The board of trustees of the Riverfront Funds unanimously approved changing the funds' investment advisor from Provident Investment Advisors to National City Investment Management Company (the advisor of Armada Funds) on June 23.

Armada will send out a letter to shareholders in early August, said Armada spokeswoman Anne Kimmons. Armada filed a registration statement on July 6, while Riverfront added an update to its fund prospectuses on July 9.

Shareholders will meet at the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania office of PFPC on September 13.

In a letter to shareholders, J. Donald Raines, president of the Riverfront Funds made the case for the approval of the merger. The advisory fees and net operating expense ratios on the each acquiring Armada fund is lower than each acquired Riverfront fund, stated Raines. In addition, shareholders will also benefit from Armada funds larger asset size, stated Raines.

Currently, the Riverfront funds are being managed by the National City IMC through an interim agreement.

National City executives have made it known that the company is interested in building out its asset management business, either through acquisition or through organic growth. For more details on National City's plan, see Midwest Bank Goes Shopping for Asset Manager

The Riverfront Funds group was not a driver of the Provident Bank acquisition, but rather a "side benefit," said Kimmons.

Edgewood Services, a division of Federated Investors, is the distributor of Riverfront Funds.

Welcome to the Family
Riverfront Funds (Acquired Funds)	Assets (Q1)	Armada Funds (Acquiring Funds)	Assets	Combined Assets
Riverfront Large Company Select Fund	$26.0	Armada Large Cap Growth Fund	$734.6	$760.6
Riverfront Balanced Fund	$15.0	Armada Balanced Allocation Fund	$162.4	$177.4
Riverfront Small Company Select Fund	$11.1	Armada Small Cap Growth Fund	$162.8	$173.9
Riverfront Select Value Fund	$22.0	Armada Large Cap Value Fund	$578.7	$600.7
Riverfront U.S. Government fund	$46.2	Armada Government Mortgage Fund	$270.9	$317.1
Riverfront U.S. Government Securities Money Market	$201.8	Armada Government Money Market Fund	$1,942.6	$2,144.4
Total	$322.1	Total	$3,852.0	$4,174.1
Source: Armada SEC filing

 

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