General Electric plans to grow its private-asset management business both internally and through acquisitions, to muscle its way into the hot managed-accounts market.

GE's relatively new private asset-management group is interested in expanding distribution capabilities, through financial advisors, and assets via other platforms, according to Tim Benedict, a GE spokesman. "Basically, we're looking at everything," he says, adding that GE's overall strategic aim is to be a high-quality player in the managed account sector.

"We believe there are great opportunities on the horizon for consolidation and we are actively looking for acquisition candidates and consolidation plays," Bethann Roberts, chairman and chief executive of GE Private Asset Management, said in a recently published Reuters report.

GE may be chasing the SEI model in its approach to high net worth clients, says Burt Greenwald, an industry consultant. The GE group supports financial advisors by providing access to the best money managers from specialized sectors and by providing related administrative services.

SEI Investments has successfully expanded from its initial back-office trust niche to administer some $233 billion in mutual fund and pooled assets and process about $50 trillion in investment transactions each year.

Bank of New York recently bought Lockwood Financial, another well-known player in the managed account sector.

Greenwald notes that there are literally hundreds of small private-asset management firms to pick from today, and that GE, which has had limited success in the mutual fund arena with respect to both direct and third-party marketing, has a long way to go before it becomes a top-tier force in this space.

The California-based GE group now works with about 800 advisors, and targets investors with more than $1 million to invest. Prior to its acquisition by GE in December 2001, the Sherman Oaks, California-based unit was known as Centurion Capital Group. GE Private Asset Management is a part of GE Financial.  

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