Prudential (TG:PRU)
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Mexican financial services group Grupo Actinver SA said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of Prudential Financial Inc.'s (PRU) local asset management business for an undisclosed amount.

The deal, which included Prudential's mutual fund operations and a small bank, boosts Actinver's mutual fund assets to about 60 billion pesos ($4.41 billion) managed on behalf of more than 200,000 clients, the company said in a press release.

"As a result of this operation, Actinver consolidates its growth and reinforces its position as one of the five most important financial services groups in terms of asset management in Mexico," the company said.

Actinver, whose operations include a brokerage house, said it plans to add banking services to the portfolio of asset management products it currently distributes through its 71 offices.

Prudential's Mexican insurance, pension fund and real estate operations weren't included in the transaction.

Actinver has been an active deal maker in recent years as it seeks to grow its core mutual fund business. The Mexico City-based firm sold its pension fund company to the local subsidiary of Metlife Inc. (MET) in 2007 and acquired rival mutual fund company Operadora de Fondos Lloyd in 2006.

The fund industry is dominated by the country's top seven commercial banks, which together held 78% of the sector's MXN921.34 billion in assets at the end of August, according to Mexico's securities industry association, AMIB.

Prudential's divestiture of its asset management operations in Mexico comes just two years after it opened a bank to complement its mutual fund unit Prudential Apolo.

However, its fund business never really gained scale - it had a 1.9% market share with MXN17.53 billion in assets as of Aug. 31 - in a sector increasingly dominated by banks and Actinver.

-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires, 52-55-5001-5723, ken.parks@dowjones.com