Wellington Management will acquire Hartford Funds, a provider of investment solutions for the wealth management market, in a deal valued at $1.9bn.
Following completion of the transaction, Hartford Funds will operate under the Wellington brand
The agreement turns a long-running business arrangement between the two groups into a single company structure. Their ties date back to 1978 and developed further in 1984 with a sub-advisory arrangement covering mutual funds. Over time, that relationship was extended to include ETFs and other investment strategies.
At present, Wellington sub-advises 83% of Hartford Funds’ roughly $160bn of assets. Hartford Funds is supported by a client-facing team of more than 160 people with experience representing Wellington’s investment platform. The Hartford’s chairman and CEO Christopher Swift said, “We are proud of the strong advisor-centric fund company that we have built, powered by Wellington’s outstanding investment capabilities for many years.