The Mutual Fund Store, one of the largest registered investment advisory firms in the country, is up for sale, according to a source familiar with the matter.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is shopping the firm, which has $6.4 billion in assets and 68,000 client accounts, on behalf of its founder, Adam Bold. The asking price is between $300 million and $350 million, according to the source, who asked not to be named.
But in an interview with the Kansas City Star Monday afternoon, Mr. Bold said the firm was not for sale. “We have not put the company up for sale,” Mr. Bold said, according to a story on the Star's web site. "Neither I nor our management team are going anywhere.”
Mr. Bold founded The Mutual Fund Store LLC in 1996. With headquarters in Overland Park, Kan., it now has more than 70 franchises across the country. While Wall Street firms largely shun small investors, the minimum for a new client to invest with The Mutual Fund Store is $50,000.
The firm was recently ranked No. 3 on
InvestmentNews' list of top fee-only RIAs (as measured by discretionary assets under management as of March 31).
Mr. Bold, who is seen frequently on CNBC and Bloomberg Television, also hosts a weekly radio show, "The Mutual Fund Show." He declined to talk to
InvestmentNews about the story.
A competitor said that employees of The Mutual Fund Store have been making inquiries in recent weeks. “I can't say I'm totally surprised,” said Ric Edelman, president and co-CEO of Edelman Financial Group Inc., which has $6.7 billion in assets under management and 22 branches and is expanding.
Mr. Edelman said he did not know that The Mutual Fund Store was on the block. “We've looked at his business model for years and never really understood a lot of the economics,” Mr. Edelman said without citing specific details. “We've had phone calls from people in his organization over the last couple of months. We weren't sure why that was happening.”
Both Mr. Edelman and Mr. Bold have radio shows in strategic markets in the United States, Mr. Edelman noted, and have offices in those markets. Both firms also have low asset minimums, serving clients with as little as $50,000 to invest.
But Mr. Edelman noted that the firms do differ in some ways: The Mutual Fund Store is a franchise operation and Edelman Financial is not. The Mutual Fund Store also stresses actively managed mutual funds, while Edelman Financial emphasizes financial planning and diversification, Mr. Edelman said.
The potential sale of The Mutual Fund Store comes amid aggressive growth plans for the RIA. Indeed, the company aims to open a dozen more offices this year and two dozen the next.
About Mr. Bold, Mr. Edelman said: “If he can get a $300 million valuation, God bless him. He's built a very successful organization.”
