- Operating Income, as Adjusted, of $13.6 Million for the Fourth Quarter and $43.7 Million for the Full Year, up 90 Percent and 101 Percent from 2010; Operating Income Increases to $8.2 Million in Fourth Quarter and $13.9 Million for 2011

- Net Income of $140.7 Million in Fourth Quarter Includes $132.0 Million Net Benefit from Release of Tax Valuation Allowance

- Net Flows of $0.8 Billion in Quarter up 64 Percent from 2010 Fourth Quarter; Full-Year Net Flows of $5.2 Billion up from $1.5 Billion in 2010

- Long Term, Open-End Mutual Fund Sales Increase to $2.4 Billion from $1.5 Billion in Fourth Quarter 2010, and to $9.5 Billion for Full Year from $4.5 Billion in 2010; Net Flows Increase to $5.1 Billion for Full Year from $1.7 Billion in 2010

HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTS), which operates a multi-manager asset management business, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011 that included its 11th consecutive quarter of positive flows, a fourth consecutive quarter of more than $1 billion of net flows from long-term open-end mutual funds, and its highest quarter of operating income, as adjusted, and operating margin, as adjusted, since it became a public company.

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Operating income, as adjusted, of $13.6 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, increased 90 percent from $7.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 6 percent from $12.8 million in the third quarter of 2011. Operating margin, as adjusted, was 32 percent for the fourth quarter, compared with 23 percent in the prior year's fourth quarter and 31 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

Operating income for the fourth quarter was $8.2 million with a margin of 15 percent, compared with $4.5 million and 11 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 and an operating loss of $2.2 million and margin of (4) percent in the third quarter of 2011, which included $10.8 million in expenses related to the launch of a closed-end fund. The company also reported net income for the quarter of $140.7 million that includes a tax benefit of $132.0 million primarily related to the release of a valuation allowance on certain deferred tax assets. The company released the valuation allowance when it determined that, based on projected future taxable income, it will more likely than not realize these deferred tax assets.

Operating income, as adjusted, and operating margin, as adjusted, are non-GAAP measures that exclude certain non-cash and other items, such as costs related to the July launch of the Duff & Phelps Global Utility Income (NYSE: DPG) closed-end fund, and transition costs for the Newfleet Multi-Sector Fixed Income team that joined the company in June. These measures are further described and reconciled to GAAP measures in the table at the end of the release.

Assets under management were $34.6 billion at December 31, 2011, an increase of 17 percent from the prior year and 5 percent from the quarter ended September 30, 2011. Long-term assets under management, which exclude cash management products, were $32.2 billion at the end of the 2011 fourth quarter, an increase of 23 percent from the prior year and 8 percent from the prior quarter.