The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Aug. 11, edition that CI Financial has struck a deal to acquire Sentry Investments, valued at $780-million in cash and stock, merging two of Canada's largest independent asset managers. The Globe's Joyita Sengupta writes that through the acquisition, CI will add significantly to its mutual-fund portfolio, boosting its assets under management by 16 per cent to $140-billion. The deal will also create one of the largest sales forces in the industry in Canada. CI chief executive officer Peter Anderson said: "Scale is a clear advantage. There are not a lot of large asset managers in the Canadian market today." The deal comes in the midst of difficult period for the mutual-fund industry as exchange-traded funds grow in popularity. While mutual funds still have a strong footing in Canada, with more than $1-trillion in assets, investors are increasingly turning to an increasing array of ETFs, which usually come with significantly lower costs. Those trends could spur further deals in the investment-funds industry. Canaccord Genuity Group analyst Scot Chan says: "It's been pretty quiet for a while. I think this will trigger consolidation in the mutual fund space."