By Sherin Sunny

Aug 15 (Reuters) - Shares of Magellan Financial Group ( MGLLF )

surged to their highest level in 22 months after the

asset manager posted a 31% rise in its annual profit and

announced a deal to buy a minority stake in an investment

management firm.

The stock rose as much as 11.2% to A$10.01 to its highest

level since Oct. 19, 2022, and is among the top gainers on the

ASX 200 benchmark index.

The company posted a net profit after tax of A$238.8 million

($158.13 million) for the full year ending June 2024, up from

A$182.7 million from a year earlier on higher performance fees

and lower expenses at its funds management business.

Additionally, the company inked a strategic partnership with

Vinva Investment Management, an Australia-based global

investment management firm, to acquire a 29.5% stake in the

latter's parent entity, Vinva Holdings, for A$138.5 million.

The deal gives Magellan exclusive rights to distribute

Vinva's products and investment strategies through its global

distribution team.

Both parties also intend to collaborate on new product

initiatives in Australia and globally.

"It does add additional product that Magellan can distribute

globally and expand its existing phase quite significantly,"

said Jun Bei Liu, a portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment

Partners.

She attributed the jump in shares to the deal rather than

the higher results, which were largely in line with expectations

The company declared an interim dividend of 28.6 Australian

cents per share, down from 39.8 cents apiece.

($1 = 1.5101 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane

Venkatraman

)