Mutual and segregated fund assets at CI Mutual Funds Inc. grew by 8.1% in October to $32.1 billion. CI’s total fee-earning assets grew 7.6% to $37.5 billion.

CI says the change was the result of strong performance by its mutual and segregated funds, whose assets grew by 2.8%, and the acquisition of Synergy Asset Management Inc., which closed on October 6 and added $1.575 billion in mutual fund assets to CI.

During October, CI had net redemptions of $21 million, consisting of net redemptions of long-term funds of approximately $10 million and net redemptions of money market funds of approximately $11 million. These totals include the Synergy funds.

“Global markets provided excellent returns for our unitholders in October, increasing our optimism for the upcoming RSP season,” said Stephen MacPhail, COO and CFO CI Fund Management Inc., in a news release.

Synergy fund assets have increased 5% since the acquisition was announced on August 22, 2003. Synergy’s operations were integrated into those of CI during October, while Synergy’s administrative systems are expected to be converted to CI’s platform later this month.

“The integration has been smoother than expected, allowing CI to realize the cost synergies of the transaction almost immediately,” said MacPhail. “In addition, we anticipate that the operating costs being charged to the Synergy funds’ unitholders will decline significantly once all operations are centralized onto CI’s system.”

In other matters, CI says it is continuing to examine the merits of converting the company to an income trust structure. No formal proposal has been made to CI’s board of directors, nor have any decisions been made by CI management.

“We are considering ways of increasing the after-tax returns to our shareholders,” said. MacPhail. “CI produces significant levels of cash flow and could be a good candidate for an income trust structure.”