McDonnell is wholly-owned by a team of professionals whose leaders were instrumental in first developing this business in 1987, when our group established a separate account management business as part of Van Kampen Investments. Founded by Dennis McDonnell and Edward Treichel, the business evolved and expanded throughout the 1990s, as numerous institutional and private client advisory relationships were formed. Performance track records were established by the group for various investment grade fixed income products.

As the separately managed accounts (SMA) business gained momentum with brokerage firms and independent financial advisors throughout the 1990s, the firm (then known as Van Kampen Management Inc.) secured participation with several key sponsors through the offering of both tax-exempt and taxable investment grade strategies. Growth in the institutional channel continued steadily across diverse client types. In addition, the organization expanded further into the sub-advisory channel in 1998 and again in 1999 with fixed income fund relationships.

In May of 2001, McDonnell Investment Management, LLC was organized by the original founders of our business unit at Van Kampen to acquire substantially all of the assets of the business, an acquisition that occurred on October 31, 2001. McDonnell opened its doors as an independently owned registered investment advisor on November 1, 2001 with more than $6 billion in assets under management.

Our organization has continued to thrive, with our asset management business growing across all distribution channels by over $8 billion since we were established as McDonnell. We broadened our traditional investment grade fixed income management expertise in 2004 by forming the Alternative Credit Strategies Group ("ACS Group") with a team of professionals dedicated to providing below investment grade investment management to institutional investors, including expertise in managing bank loans and high yield securities. The ACS Group currently manages three collateralized loan obligation ("CLO") funds and two private investment funds which invest in diverse portfolios of below-investment grade assets (one fund utilizes leverage and the other is unleveraged), in addition to an unleveraged separate account portfolio of below investment grade bank loans for a state pension board. Below investment grade assets under management were approximately $2.5 billion as of December 31, 2011.

Our insurance asset management business has expanded meaningfully since 2005, with assets under management approaching $4 billion as of September 30, 2011. New investment advisory relationships with life & health, property & casualty, reinsurance and other types of insurance entities continue to be established for customized investment management mandates. We recognize the unique business and investment needs of insurance companies and employ a comprehensive approach to managing insurance client portfolios, incorporating a detailed business review and sensitivity to actuarial and regulatory objectives. Specialized compliance and reporting systems that are geared toward insurance companies are in place and enhanced regularly.

Throughout 2010-2011, we were successful in increasing our assets under management to over $14 billion through steady growth across all business channels with the implementation of existing and more intricately customized investment strategies. Our goal in 2012 is to seek continued success in all segments of our investment management business. We recognize that the investment demands of our diverse client base continually shift in response to a fluctuating market environment - we stand poised to respond with client tailored investment solutions.