CI Financial reports sales and assets for April

TSX Symbol: CIX

TORONTO, May 3 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today reported gross retail sales of $726 million and net sales of $43 million for the month of April. Assets under management at April 30, 2010 were $68.5 billion.

April's net sales consisted of $20 million in net sales of long-term funds and $23 million in money market funds. For the year-to-date, CI had gross retail sales of $3.6 billion and net sales of $733 million.

Total fee-earning assets at April 30, 2010 were $90.8 billion, an increase of 0.3% during the month. Assets under management increased by 0.5% or $342 million over the month to $68.5 billion, which consisted of retail investment funds at CI Investments Inc. of $64.8 billion and institutional assets of $3.7 billion. CI also reported assets under administration at Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. of $21.6 billion, and other fee-earning assets of $666 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.
                               April 30, 2010
                            MONTH-END STATISTICS
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    MONTHLY SALES DATA
     RETAIL MANAGED                  GROSS SALES   REDEMPTIONS     NET SALES
     FUNDS                             (millions)    (millions)    (millions)
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    Long-term funds                         $616          $596           $20
    Short-term funds                        $110           $87           $23
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    TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS                      $726          $683           $43
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    FEE-EARNING ASSETS                Mar. 31/10    Apr. 30/10           %
                                       (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Retail assets under management       $64,453       $64,824           0.6%
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    Institutional managed assets           3,750         3,721          -0.8%
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    TOTAL assets under management        $68,203       $68,545           0.5%
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    Assante assets under
     administration*                    21,687        21,616          -0.3%
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    CI other fee-earning assets              681           666          -2.2%
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    TOTAL FEE-EARNING ASSETS             $90,571       $90,827           0.3%
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    MONTHLY AVERAGE RETAIL ASSETS     Mar. 31/10    Apr. 30/10          %
     UNDER MANAGEMENT                  (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Monthly average retail assets        $63,970       $64,978           1.6%
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    QUARTERLY AVERAGE RETAIL ASSETS   Mar. 31/10    Apr. 30/10          %
     UNDER MANAGEMENT                  (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Quarterly average retail assets      $62,849       $64,978           3.4%
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    FISCAL AVERAGE RETAIL ASSETS     Fiscal 2009   Fiscal 2010           %
     UNDER MANAGEMENT                  (millions)    (millions)       Change
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    Fiscal year average retail
     assets                              $55,430       $63,381          14.3%
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    EQUITY                           FINANCIAL POSITION
                                     (millions)
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    Total outstanding
     shares             290,214,519  Debt Outstanding                   $665
    QTD weighted avg.
     shares             290,870,118  Cash and marketable securities      (43)
                                     ----------------------------------------
    Yield at $21.25             3.4% Net debt outstanding               $622
                                     ----------------------------------------
    In-the-money options  4,853,598
    Percentage of all
     options                     71% Terminal redemption value of funds $804
    All options % of shares     2.3% Quarter-to-date equity-based
                                      compensation(xx)                    $1
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    *  Includes CI and United Financial investment fund assets administered
         by Assante advisors.
    (xx) Estimate partially based on marked-to-market pre-tax option expense
         accrual from change in share price and vesting from last quarter-end
         ($21.50) to April 30, 2010 ($21.25).

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    ESTIMATED GEOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF AUM
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    Canada                         52%            Asia                     3%
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    United States                  22%           Other                     3%
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    Europe                         10%            Cash                    10%
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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. CI 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: Stephen A. MacPhail, President, CI Financial Corp., [phone]