John Hancock is on the prowl to buy a mutual fund company

John Hancock Funds LLC is aiming to make an acquisition in the mutual fund industry, but for now, it is continuing its strategy of adopting funds, according to Keith Hartstein, its top executive. The company is looking to adopt an international-equity fund and possibly a mid-cap fund down the road, Mr. Hartstein, the company's president and chief executive, said in an interview. Hancock this year filed to adopt Fiduciary Management Associates LLC's Small Company Portfolio and reorganize it into the John Hancock Small Company Fund, marking the firm's 10th fund adoption in the past seven years. Although fund adoptions have helped Hancock to expand its product line, the firm ultimately would like to acquire one big fund group or make a series of smaller acquisitions, Mr. Hartstein said.
“The most important thing with acquiring a fund family is getting the talent that has a good track record,” he said. Hancock, which has $26 billion in assets, has the scale to run about $60 billion in total assets, Mr. Hartstein said. “So we could manage $50 billion to $60 billion in assets without changing the infrastructure,” he said. “The challenge is finding a motivated seller with these prices.” E-mail Jessica Toonkel Marquez at [email protected].