CI Financial reports net sales of $194 million for July

TSX Symbol: CIX

TORONTO, Aug. 3 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today reported gross retail sales of $815 million and net sales of $194 million for the month of July. Assets under management at July 31, 2010 were $67.1 billion, an increase of 3.8% over the month.

Net sales consisted of $197 million in net sales of long-term funds and $3 million in net redemptions in money market funds. For the year-to-date, CI had gross retail sales of $6.2 billion and net sales of $1.2 billion.

Total fee-earning assets at July 31, 2010 were $88.8 billion, representing an increase of $3.1 billion or 3.6% for the month. Assets under management consisted of retail investment funds at CI Investments Inc. of $63.6 billion and institutional assets of $3.5 billion. CI also reported assets under administration at Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. of $21.0 billion, and other fee-earning assets of $624 million.

Additional information about CI's sales, assets and financial position can be found below in the tables of preliminary statistics and on its website, www.ci.com/cix, in the Statistics section. The sales and assets reported in this release are the only statistics authorized by CI and CI takes no responsibility for reporting by any external sources.

    
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                             CI FINANCIAL CORP.
                                July 31, 2010
                            MONTH-END STATISTICS
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    MONTHLY SALES DATA               GROSS SALES   REDEMPTIONS     NET SALES
    RETAIL MANAGED FUNDS               (millions)    (millions)    (millions)
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    Long-term funds                         $751          $554          $197
    Short-term funds                         $64           $67           -$3
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    TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS                      $815          $621          $194
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    FEE-EARNING ASSETS                June 30/10    July 31/10           %
                                       (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Retail assets under management       $61,263       $63,589          3.8%
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    Institutional managed assets           3,370         3,500          3.9%
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    TOTAL assets under management        $64,633       $67,089          3.8%
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    Assante assets under
     administration*                    20,424        21,046          3.0%
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    CI other fee-earning assets              631           624         -1.1%
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    TOTAL FEE-EARNING ASSETS             $85,688       $88,759          3.6%
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    MONTHLY AVERAGE RETAIL            June 30/10    July 31/10           %
    ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT            (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Monthly average retail assets        $62,498       $62,537          0.1%
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    QUARTERLY AVERAGE RETAIL          June 30/10    July 31/10           %
    ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT            (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Quarterly average retail assets      $63,515       $62,537         -1.5%
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    FISCAL AVERAGE RETAIL            Fiscal 2009   Fiscal 2010           %
    ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT            (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Fiscal year average retail
     assets                              $55,430       $63,089         13.8%
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    EQUITY                           FINANCIAL POSITION
                                     (millions)
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    Total outstanding
     shares             287,893,633  Debt Outstanding                   $671
    QTD weighted avg.
     shares             287,959,051  Cash and marketable securities      (69)
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    Yield at $19.44            4.0%  Net debt outstanding               $602
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    In-the-money options  4,615,071
    Percentage of all
     options                    68%  Terminal redemption value of funds $801
    All options % of
     shares                    2.4%
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    *Includes CI and United Financial investment fund assets administered
    by Assante advisors.

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    ESTIMATED GEOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF AUM
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    Canada                         52%            Asia              3%
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    United States                  24%            Other             4%
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    Europe                          9%            Cash              8%
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CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company. CI offers a broad range of investment products and services, including an industry-leading selection of investment funds, and is on the Web at www.ci.com/cix.

This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to CI and its products and services, including its business operations and strategy and financial performance and condition. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, including interest rates, business competition, changes in government regulations or in tax laws, and other factors discussed in materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time.

For further information: William T. Holland, Chief Executive Officer, CI Financial Corp., [phone]