TORONTO, Aug. 22, 2003 – Sun Life Financial Inc. (Sun Life Financial, NYSE/TSX: “SLF”) said today that the Company will provide significant support to the transactions announced today between CI Fund Management Inc. (“CI”, TSX: “CIX”) and Assante Corporation (“Assante”, TSX: “LMS”), and between CI and Synergy Asset Management Inc. (“Synergy”), in which CI will acquire Assante’s Canadian operations and all of Synergy’s operations.
Sun Life Financial will provide approximately $260 million in cash to the Assante transaction and approximately $11 million in cash to the Synergy transaction by subscribing for additional common shares of CI in order to maintain its current 34 per cent ownership interest.
“Sun Life Financial continues to show its support for what we consider to be the leading management team in the Canadian mutual fund industry,” said Donald A. Stewart, Chief Executive Officer. “Maintaining our current ownership stake in CI keeps us on course to achieve our strategic objective of holding leadership positions in key North American markets.”
Further information about the CI and Assante and Synergy transactions can be found at www.cifunds.com.
About CI Fund Management
CI Fund Management Inc. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned investment management company with the industry’s broadest selection of investment funds, including mutual funds, industry-specific funds, 100 per cent RSP-eligible global funds, segregated funds and hedge funds. CI is on the Web at www.cifunds.com.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Tracing its roots back to 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2003, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of CDN $342.2 billion.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol “SLF”.