MBIA Inc. yesterday agreed to sell the assets of its asset-management firm, 1838 Investment Advisors LLC, to the firm's management and an investor group led by Orca Bay Partners. In a statement, MBIA president Gary Dunton said the company has decided to focus on its fixed-income asset management business -- which he called "a natural extension of [MBIA's] financial guarantee business" -- rather than equity asset management, which is 1838's focus.
MBIA expects to make a small profit from the sale.
MBIA acquired 1838 Investment Advisors in 1998. At the end of 2003, MBIA's investment management division had $37.5 billion in ending assets, nearly one-tenth of which was accounted for by 1838, which had $3.6 billion.
Armonk, N.Y.-based MBIA Inc. is the parent company of MBIA Insurance Corp., the triple-A rated municipal bond insurer.