Mony Group to Buy Muni Bond Specialist

Mony Group Inc. said it will acquire Lebenthal & Co., a family-run firm that was the first to entice individual investors to buy municipal bonds through advertising in the 1920s.

Mony, a New York-based life insurance company, said it will acquire Lebenthal for about $25 million through its Advest Group Inc. unit, a securities firm based in Hartford, Conn. The firm said it wasn’t obligated to give an exact purchase price because Lebenthal is a private firm.

The sale ends more than seven decades of family ownership of New York’s best-known name in the retail municipal bond market. Mony plans on tapping into that name recognition to help it boost sales.

Lebenthal has an asset management subsidiary and three open-ended municipal bond funds. It has $5.1 billion under management. Shares of Mony rose 33 cents to $32.53 on the NYSE.