Touchstone Investments Completes Purchase of Select AIG Funds

CINCINNATI, July 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Touchstone Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group, completed its acquisition of select assets of AIG Life & Retirement's Retail Mutual Funds business on July 16. AIG Life & Retirement is a division of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG). The planned acquisition was announced in February.

"We welcome AIG Fund shareholders and their financial professionals to the Touchstone family. This acquisition reflects Touchstone's continued commitment to providing access to best-in-class institutional asset managers to a wide range of investors through our mutual funds," said Blake Moore, president and chief executive officer of Touchstone Investments. "In addition to significantly increasing our assets under management, we are now offering two new funds that we believe are important to investors and Touchstone."

AIG Funds, with assets totaling $6.8 billion, were reorganized and merged into either existing or newly created Touchstone funds, which brings Touchstone's fund lineup to 32 funds with assets under management to $35.9 billion.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group, serves as sub-advisor to the newly created Touchstone Dividend Equity Fund and Touchstone Strategic Income Opportunities Fund. The acquisition will raise Fort Washington's assets under management to $78.5 billion. Each newly created Touchstone fund will employ established strategies that Fort Washington offers to its institutional clients. The existing Touchstone funds involved in the reorganizations will continue to be sub-advised by Fort Washington, Ares Capital Management II LLC, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, and Sands Capital Management, as applicable.   

Moore added that he believes strongly in the value that financial professionals provide to individuals, families, corporations and others. As such, Touchstone distributes its funds through third-party intermediaries like registered investment advisors, private banks and consultants, as well as through financial professionals at national, regional and independent broker-dealers.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and K&L Gates LLP advised Touchstone Advisors, Inc. and Western & Southern Financial Group on the transaction. Piper Sandler & Co. and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP advised AIG on the transaction.

Important Disclosures

Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of each Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus and the summary prospectus contain this and other information about each Fund. To obtain a prospectus or a summary prospectus for Touchstone Funds, contact your financial advisor or download and/or request one at TouchstoneInvestments.com/Resources or call Touchstone at 800-638-8194. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before investing.

About Touchstone Investments
Touchstone's commitment to being Distinctively Active has purposeful intent. Recognizing that not all mutual fund companies are created equal, we actively apply an integrated and rigorous approach for identifying and partnering with highly-skilled asset managers who act in a sub-advisory capacity. Their expertise, disciplined investment processes and employment of active management provide the differentiation required for robust portfolio construction. Touchstone offers a full breadth of investment options across styles and asset classes, including U.S. equity, international/global equity, income and multi-asset funds. The Touchstone Funds are advised by Touchstone Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisor, and are distributed nationally through intermediaries including broker-dealers, registered investment advisors, institutions and others by Touchstone Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Touchstone, Touchstone Funds and Touchstone Investments are federal service mark registrations and applications owned by IFS Financial Services, Inc. Touchstone Securities, Inc., Touchstone Advisors, Inc., and IFS Financial Services, Inc., are members of Western & Southern Financial Group. For more information, please visit TouchstoneInvestments.com.

About Fort Washington
Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. was founded in May 1990 as the primary investment management subsidiary of The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company (Western & Southern Life) and is an SEC-registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (as amended) with approximately $72.7 billion assets under management.* Fort Washington is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western & Southern. For more information, please visit FortWashington.com.

*Assets as of June 30, 2021. Includes assets under management by Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. of $68.3 billion and $4.4 billion in commitments managed by Fort Washington Capital Partners Group, a division. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

About Western & Southern Financial Group
Founded in Cincinnati in 1888 as The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, is the parent company of a group of diversified financial services businesses. Its assets owned ($66 billion) and managed ($40 billion) totaled $106 billion as of June 30, 2021. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world. Its seven life insurance subsidiaries (The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Gerber Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company, The Lafayette Life Insurance Company, and National Integrity Life Insurance Company) maintain very strong financial ratings. Other member companies include Eagle Realty Group, LLC; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.;¹ IFS Financial Services, Inc.; Touchstone Advisors, Inc.;¹ Touchstone Securities, Inc.;² W&S Brokerage Services, Inc.;^1,2 and W&S Financial Group Distributors, Inc. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of seven major community events every year, including the Western & Southern Open, a premier event in the U.S. Open Series played each August by the world's top-ranked professional male and female tennis players.

¹ A registered investment adviser.
² A registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC.
Review our current financial ratings.

SOURCE Western & Southern Financial Group