VIRTUS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, INC. - Annual Report: 2014 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014

or

For the transition period from                     to                     

Commission file number 1-10994

VIRTUS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

100 Pearl St., Hartford, CT 06103

(Address of principal executive offices)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code

(800) 248-7971

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    x  Yes    ¨  No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.    ¨  Yes    x  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    x  Yes    ¨  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    x  Yes    ¨  No

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    ¨  Yes    x  No

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold (based on the closing share price as quoted on the NASDAQ Global Market) as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter was $1,535,144,421. For purposes of this calculation, shares of common stock held or controlled by executive officers and directors of the registrant have been treated as shares held by affiliates.

There were 8,977,784 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding on February 12, 2015.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement which will be filed with the SEC in connection with the 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.

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Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.

Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2014

“We,” “us,” “our,” the “Company” and “Virtus” as used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”), refer to Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its subsidiaries.

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PART I

Organization

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (the “Company”) commenced operations on November 1, 1995 through a reverse merger with Duff & Phelps Corporation. The Company was a majority-owned subsidiary of The Phoenix Companies, Inc. (“PNX”) from 1995 to 2001 and a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNX from 2001 until 2008. On December 31, 2008, PNX distributed 100% of Virtus common stock to PNX stockholders in a spin-off transaction.

Our Business

We are a provider of investment management and related services to individuals and institutions. We use a multi-manager, multi-style approach, offering investment strategies from affiliated managers and select unaffiliated subadvisors, each having its own distinct investment style, autonomous investment process and individual brand. By offering a broad array of products, we believe we can appeal to a greater number of investors, which allows us to have opportunities across market cycles and through changes in investor preferences.

We provide our products in a number of forms and through multiple distribution channels. Our retail products include open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds, variable insurance funds and separately managed accounts. Our open-end mutual funds are distributed through intermediaries. Our closed-end funds trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Our variable insurance funds are available as investment options in variable annuities and life insurance products distributed by life insurance companies. Separately managed accounts are comprised of intermediary programs, sponsored and distributed by unaffiliated brokerage firms, and private client accounts, which are offered to the high net-worth clients of our affiliated managers. We also manage institutional accounts for corporations, multi-employer retirement funds, public employee retirement systems, foundations, endowments and as a subadviser to unaffiliated mutual funds. Our earnings are primarily driven by asset-based fees charged for services relating to these products including investment management, fund administration, distribution and shareholder services. These fees are based on a percentage of assets under management (“AUM”) and are calculated using daily or weekly average assets, quarter-end assets or average month-end assets.

Our Investment Managers

Our investment management services are provided by investment managers who are registered investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Advisers Act”). The investment managers are responsible for portfolio management activities for our retail and institutional products operating under advisory or subadvisory agreements. We provide our affiliated managers with distribution, operational and administrative support, thereby allowing each affiliated manager to focus primarily on investment management. We also engage select unaffiliated subadvisers for certain of our open-end mutual funds, separately managed accounts and variable insurance funds. At December 31, 2014, $21.6 billion or 38.1% of our assets under management were managed by unaffiliated subadvisers. We monitor the quality of our managers’ services by assessing their performance, style, consistency and the discipline with which they apply their investment process.

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Our affiliated investment managers and their respective assets under management, styles and strategies are as follows:

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Our Investment Products

Our assets under management are comprised of open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds, variable insurance funds, separately managed accounts (intermediary sponsored and private client) and institutional accounts (traditional institutional mandates and structured products).

Assets Under Management by Product as of December 31, 2014

($ in billions)

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Open-End Mutual Funds

As of December 31, 2014, we managed 49 U.S. domiciled open-end mutual funds with total assets of $36.3 billion. Our U.S. domiciled, open-end mutual funds are offered in a variety of asset classes (equity, fixed income, asset allocation and alternative investments), in all market capitalizations (large, mid and small), in different styles (growth, blend and value) and with various investment approaches (fundamental, quantitative and thematic). In 2013, we established an Ireland domiciled fund platform under the European Union framework for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (“UCITS”), which we refer to as the Global Funds, to offer select investment strategies to non-US investors. At December 31, 2014, assets under management in these open-end funds were $23.6 million.

Our open-end mutual funds as of December 31, 2014 were as follows:

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Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

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Closed-End Funds

We managed nine closed-end funds as of December 31, 2014, each of which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with aggregate assets of $7.6 billion. Closed-end funds do not continually offer to sell and redeem their shares; rather, daily liquidity is provided by the ability to trade the shares of these funds at prices that may be above or below the shares’ net asset value.

Our closed-end funds as of December 31, 2014 are as follows:

Separately Managed Accounts

Separately managed accounts are individually owned portfolios that include intermediary sponsored programs, whereby an intermediary assists individuals in hiring investment managers that have been approved by the broker-dealer to fulfill those objectives and private client accounts that are accounts of high net-worth individuals who are direct clients of our affiliated managers. Separately managed account assets totaled $6.9 billion at December 31, 2014.

Variable Insurance Funds

Our variable insurance funds are available as investment options in variable annuities and life insurance products distributed by life insurance companies.

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Our variable insurance funds as of December 31, 2014 were as follows:

Institutional Accounts

We offer a variety of equity and fixed income strategies to institutional clients, including corporations, multi-employer retirement funds, public employee retirement systems, foundations, endowments and as a subadviser to unaffiliated mutual funds. Our institutional assets under management totaled $4.7 billion as of December 31, 2014.

Our Investment Management, Administration and Transfer Agent Fees

Our investment management fees, administration fees and transfer agent fees earned in each of the last three years were as follows:

Investment Management Fees

We provide investment management services pursuant to investment management agreements through our affiliated investment advisers (each, an “Adviser”). With respect to our open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds and variable insurance funds, the Adviser provides overall management services to a fund, subject to supervision

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by the fund’s board of directors, pursuant to agreements that must be approved annually by each fund’s board of directors and which may be terminated by either party upon written notice, or automatically, in certain situations, such as a “change in control” of the Adviser. We earn fees based on each fund’s average daily or weekly net assets with most fee schedules providing for rate declines or “breakpoints” as asset levels increase to certain thresholds. For funds managed by a subadviser, the agreement provides that the subadviser manage the day-to-day investment management of the fund’s portfolio and receive a management fee from the Adviser based on the percentage of average daily net assets in the funds they subadvise or a percentage of the Adviser’s management fee. Each fund bears all expenses associated with its operations. In some cases, to the extent total fund expenses exceed a specified percentage of a fund’s average net assets, the Adviser has agreed to reimburse the funds for such excess expenses or voluntarily waive a portion of its fee for a period of time.

For separately managed accounts and institutional accounts, fees are negotiated and are based primarily on asset size, portfolio complexity and individual client requests.

Administration Fees

We provide fund administration services to our open-end mutual funds, variable insurance funds and certain of our closed-end funds. We earn fees based on each fund’s average daily or weekly net assets. Administrative services include recordkeeping, preparing and filing documents required to comply with federal and state securities laws, legal administration and compliance services, supervising the activities of the funds’ other service providers, providing assistance with fund shareholder meetings, tax services and treasury services as well as providing office space, equipment and personnel that may be necessary for managing and administering the business affairs of the funds.

Transfer Agent Fees

We provide shareholder services to our open-end mutual funds. We earn fees based on each fund’s average daily net assets. Shareholder services include maintaining shareholder accounts, processing shareholder transactions, preparing filings and performing necessary reporting, among other things. We engage third-party service providers to perform certain aspects of the shareholder services.

Our Distribution Services

We distribute our open-end mutual funds through financial intermediaries. We have broad access in the retail market, with distribution partners that include national and regional broker-dealers and independent financial advisory firms. Our sales efforts are supported by regional sales professionals, a national account relationship group and separate teams for the retirement and insurance markets.

Our separately managed accounts are distributed through financial intermediaries and directly by teams at our affiliated managers. Our institutional distribution strategy is an affiliate-centric model. Through relationships with consultants, they target key market segments, including foundations and endowments, corporate, public and private pension plans and subadvisory accounts.

Our Broker-Dealer Services

VP Distributors, LLC (“VPD”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). VPD serves as principal underwriter and distributor of our open-end mutual funds and our separately managed accounts. Open-end mutual fund shares are distributed by VPD under sales agreements with unaffiliated financial intermediaries. VPD also markets advisory services to sponsors of separately managed account programs.

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Our Competition

We face significant competition from a wide variety of financial institutions, including other investment management companies, as well as from proprietary products offered by our distribution partners such as banks, broker-dealers and financial planning firms. Competition in our businesses is based on several factors including investment performance, access to distribution channels, service to financial advisers and their clients and fees charged. Our competitors, many of which are larger than we are, often offer similar products, use similar distribution sources, may offer less expensive products, may have greater access to key distribution channels and may have greater resources than we do.

Our Regulatory Matters

We are subject to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), FINRA and other federal and state agencies and self-regulatory organizations. Each affiliated manager and unaffiliated subadviser is registered with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act. Each open-end mutual fund, closed-end fund and each series of our variable insurance fund is registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Our Global Funds are subject to regulation by the Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”). The Global Funds and each investment manager and sub-investment manager to the Global Funds are registered with the CBI.

The financial services industry is highly regulated and failure to comply with related laws and regulations can result in the revocation of registrations, the imposition of censures or fines and the suspension or expulsion of a firm and/or its employees from the industry. All of our U.S.-domiciled open-end mutual funds are currently available for sale and are qualified in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our Global Funds are sold through financial intermediaries to investors who are not citizens of or residents of the United States. Most aspects of our investment management business, including the business of the unaffiliated subadvisers, are subject to various U.S. federal and state laws and regulations.

Our officers, directors and employees may, from time to time, own securities that are also held by one or more of our funds. Our internal policies with respect to personal investments are established pursuant to the provisions of the Investment Company Act and/or the Investment Advisers Act. Employees, officers and directors who, in the function of their responsibilities to us, meet the requirements of the Investment Company Act, Investment Advisers Act and/or of FINRA regulations, must disclose personal securities holdings and trading activity. Those employees, officers and directors with investment discretion or access to investment decisions are subject to additional restrictions with respect to the pre-clearance of the purchase or sale of securities over which they have investment discretion or beneficial interest. Other restrictions are imposed upon supervised persons with respect to personal transactions in securities held, recently sold or contemplated for purchase by our mutual funds. All supervised persons are required to report holdings and transactions on an annual and quarterly basis pursuant to the provisions of the Investment Company Act and Investment Advisers Act. In addition, certain transactions are restricted so as to seek to avoid the possibility of improper use of information relating to the management of client accounts.

Our Employees

As of December 31, 2014, we had 410 full time equivalent employees. None of our employees are represented by a union.

Available Information

Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as well as proxy statements, will be available free of charge on our website located at www.virtus.com as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC. You may also read and copy any

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document we file at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the Public Reference Room. Reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including our filings, are also available to the public on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

A copy of our Corporate Governance Principles, our Code of Conduct and the charters of our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Governance Committee and Risk and Finance Committee are posted on our website, www.virtus.com, under “About Us,” “Investor Relations,” “Corporate Governance” and are available in print to any person who requests copies by contacting Investor Relations by email to: investor.relations@virtus.com or by mail to Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., c/o Investor Relations, 100 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT 06103. Information contained on the website is not incorporated by reference or otherwise considered part of this document.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

This section describes some of the potential risks relating to our business, such as market, liquidity, operational, reputation and regulatory. The risks described below are some of the more important factors that could affect our business. You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, in evaluating the Company and our common stock. If any of the risks described below actually occur our business, revenues, profitability, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and stock price could be materially adversely affected.

We earn substantially all of our revenues based on assets under management, and therefore a reduction in assets under management would reduce our revenues and profitability. Assets under management fluctuate based on many factors including market conditions, investment performance and client withdrawals.

The majority of our revenues are generated from asset-based fees from investment management products and services to individuals and institutions. Therefore, if the assets under management decline, our fee revenues decline reducing profitability as some of our expenses are fixed. There are several reasons that assets under management could decline as discussed below:

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      In addition, the volatility in the markets in the recent past has highlighted the interconnection of the global markets and demonstrated how the deteriorating financial condition of one institution may materially adversely impact the performance of other institutions. Our assets under management have exposure to many different industries and counterparties and may be exposed to credit, operational or other risk due to the default by a counterparty or client or in the event of a market failure or disruption or otherwise. In the event of extreme circumstances, including economic, political or business crises, such as a widespread systemic failure in the global financial system or failures of firms that have significant obligations as counterparties, we may suffer significant declines in assets under management and severe liquidity or valuation issues.

      Moreover, a significant amount of our assets under management are in investments represented by strategies that primarily invest in securities in non-U.S. companies. Many non-U.S. financial markets are not as developed or as efficient as the U.S. financial markets and, as a result, have limited liquidity and greater price volatility and may lack established regulations. Liquidity in such markets also may be adversely impacted by political or economic events, government policies, expropriation, volume trading limits by foreign investors and social and civil unrest. An investment’s market value or the ability to dispose of an investment may be adversely impacted by any of these factors. Governments of foreign jurisdictions may assert their abilities to tax local gains and/or income of foreign investors, including our clients, which could adversely impact the economics associated with investing in foreign jurisdictions or non-U.S. based companies. These risks also could impact the performance of our strategies that invest in such markets and, in particular, strategies that concentrate investments in emerging market companies and countries.

Any of these factors could cause our assets under management to decline and have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our investment advisory agreements are subject to withdrawal, renegotiation or termination on short notice.

Our clients include the boards of directors for our sponsored mutual funds, managed account program sponsors, private clients and institutional clients. Our investment management agreements with these clients may be terminated upon short notice without penalty. As a result, there would be little impediment to these sponsors or clients terminating our agreements. Our clients may terminate or renegotiate their investment contracts with us or reduce the aggregate amount of assets under management with us due to a number of reasons including investment performance, reputational, regulatory or compliance issues, loss of key investment management or other personnel or a change in management or control of clients, third-party distributors, subadvisers or others with whom we have relationships. The directors of our sponsored funds may deem it to be in the best interests of a fund’s shareholders to make decisions adverse to us, such as reducing the compensation paid to us, requesting that we subsidize fund expenses over certain thresholds, or imposing restrictions on our management of the fund. Under the Investment Company Act, investment advisory agreements automatically terminate in the event of an

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assignment, which may occur if, among other events, the Company undergoes a change in control, such as any person acquiring 25% voting rights of our common stock. If an assignment were to occur, we could continue to act as adviser to a fund only if that fund’s board of directors and its stockholders approved a new investment advisory agreement. In addition, investment advisory agreements for the separate accounts we manage may not be assigned without the consent of the client. If an assignment occurs, we cannot be certain that the Company will be able to obtain the necessary fund approvals or the necessary consents from our clients. The withdrawal, renegotiation or termination of any investment management contract relating to a material portion of assets under management would have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Any damage to our reputation could harm our business and lead to a reduction in our revenues and profitability.

Maintaining a strong reputation with the investment community is critical to our success. Our reputation is vulnerable to many threats that can be difficult or impossible to control, and costly or impossible to remediate even if they are without merit or satisfactorily addressed. Our reputation may be impacted by many factors, including but not limited to: poor performance; litigation; conflicts of interests; regulatory inquiries, investigations or findings; intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of our products or services; or employee misconduct or rumors. Any damage to our reputation could impede our ability to attract and retain clients and key personnel, adversely impact relationships with third-party distributors and other business partners and lead to a reduction in the amount of our assets under management, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We manage client assets under agreements that have established investment guidelines or other contractual requirements, and any failure to comply could result in claims, losses or regulatory sanctions, which could negatively impact our revenues and profitability.

The agreements under which we manage client assets often have established investment guidelines or other contractual requirements that we are required to comply with in providing our investment management services. Although we maintain various compliance procedures and other controls to prevent, detect, and correct such errors, any failure or allegation of a failure to comply with these guidelines or other requirement could result in client claims, reputational damage, withdrawal of assets and potential regulatory sanctions, any of which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our business relies on the ability to attract and retain key employees, and the loss of such employees could negatively affect financial performance.

The success of our business is dependent to a large extent on our ability to attract and retain key employees such as senior executives, portfolio managers, securities analysts and sales personnel. Competition in the job market for these professionals is generally intense and compensation levels in the industry are highly competitive. The market for investment managers is also characterized by the movement of investment managers among different firms.

If we are unable to continue to attract and retain key employees, or if compensation costs required to attract and retain key employees increase, our performance, including our competitive position, could be materially adversely affected. Additionally, we utilize equity awards as part of our compensation philosophy and as a means for recruiting and retaining key employees. Declines in our stock price could result in deterioration in the value of equity awards granted, thus lessening the effectiveness of retaining key employees through stock-based awards.

In certain circumstances, the departure of key employees could cause higher redemption rates for certain assets under management, or the loss of certain client accounts. Any inability to retain our key employees, attract qualified employees, or replace key employee positions in a timely manner, could lead to a reduction in the

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amount of our assets under management, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and profitability. In addition, there could be additional costs to replace, retain or attract new talent which would result in a decrease in our profitability and have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

The highly competitive nature of the asset management industry may force us to reduce the fees we charge to our clients, increase amounts paid to our financial intermediaries or provide more support to those intermediaries, all of which could result in a reduction of our revenues and profitability.

We face significant competition from a wide variety of financial institutions, including other investment management companies, as well as from proprietary products offered by our distribution partners such as banks, broker-dealers and financial planning firms. Competition in our businesses is based on several factors including investment performance, access to distribution channels, service to financial advisers and their clients and fees charged. Our competitors, many of which are larger than we are, often offer similar products, use similar distribution sources, offer less expensive products, have greater access to key distribution channels and have greater resources, geographic footprints and name recognition than we do.

In addition, our profits are highly dependent on the fee levels for our products and services. In recent years, there has been a trend in certain segments of our markets toward lower fees. Competition could cause us to reduce the fees that we charge for products and services. In order to maintain appropriate fee levels in a competitive environment, we must be able to continue to provide clients with investment products and services that are viewed as appropriate in relation to the fees charged. If our clients, including our fund boards, were to view our fees as being high relative to the market or the returns provided by our investment products, we may choose to reduce our fee levels or we may experience significant redemptions in our assets under management, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to an extensive and complex regulatory environment, and changes in regulations or failure to comply with regulation could adversely affect our revenues and profitability.

The investment management industry in which we operate is subject to extensive and frequently changing regulation. We are regulated by the SEC under the Exchange Act, the Investment Company Act and the Investment Advisers Act, and we are subject to regulation by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission under the Commodities Exchange Act. Our Global Fund is subject to regulation by the Central Bank of Ireland. We are also regulated by FINRA, the Department of Labor under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), as well as other federal and state laws and regulations.

Although we spend extensive time and resources on compliance efforts designed to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, if we or our affiliates fail to timely and properly modify and update our compliance procedures in this changing and highly complex regulatory environment, we may be subject to various legal proceedings, including civil litigation, governmental investigations and enforcement actions and result in fines, penalties or suspensions of individual employees or limitations on particular business activities, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

We have significant deferred tax assets in the U.S., and any limitations on our tax attributes could have an adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to federal and state income taxes in the United States. Tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we have taken and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the appropriateness of our tax positions and reporting. We cannot provide assurance, however, that we will accurately predict the outcomes of audits, and the actual outcomes of these audits could be unfavorable. In addition, our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes available to us will be dependent on our ability to generate taxable income.

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A large portion of our deferred tax assets is related to the application of a particular Internal Revenue Code section. We received a private letter ruling that relies on certain facts, assumptions and representations from management regarding the past conduct of our businesses and other matters. If any of these facts, assumptions or representations are determined to be incorrect, we may not be able to rely on the ruling and could be subject to significant tax liabilities in the event we utilize the related deferred tax assets.

We utilize unaffiliated firms in providing investment management services and any matters that have an adverse impact to their business, or any change in our relationships with these unaffiliated firms could lead to a reduction in assets under management, which will adversely affect our revenues and profitability.

We utilize select unaffiliated subadvisers as investment managers on certain mutual funds and variable insurance funds we offer. In addition, certain of our affiliated managers have licensing arrangements with unaffiliated data providers. Because we typically have no ownership interests in these unaffiliated firms, we do not control the business activities of such firms. Problems stemming from the business activities of these unaffiliated firms may negatively impact or disrupt such firms’ operations or expose them to disciplinary action or reputational harm. Furthermore, any such problems at these unaffiliated firms may have an adverse impact on our business or reputation or expose us to regulatory scrutiny, including with respect to our oversight of such firms. For example, in December 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement with F-Squared Investments, one of our unaffiliated subadvisers, which settled charges that F-Squared had violated the federal securities laws in connection with its false performance advertising as well as aided and abetted and caused certain mutual funds sub-advised by F-Squared to violate Section 34(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information related to the impact of developments at F-Squared on the Company’s results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, we periodically negotiate provisions and renewals of these relationships, and we cannot provide assurance that such terms will remain acceptable to us or the unaffiliated firms. These relationships can also be terminated upon short notice without penalty. An interruption or termination of our unaffiliated firm relationships could affect our ability to market our products and result in a reduction in assets under management, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

We distribute through intermediaries, and changes in key distribution relationships could reduce our revenues, increase our costs and adversely affect our profitability.

Our primary source of distribution for our retail products is through intermediaries that include third party financial intermediaries, such as: major wire houses; national, regional and independent broker-dealers and financial advisors; banks and financial planners and registered investment advisors. Our success is highly dependent on access to these various distribution systems. These distributors are generally not contractually required to distribute our products and typically offer their clients various investment products and services, including proprietary products and services, in addition to and in competition with our products and services. While we compensate these distributors for selling our products and services pursuant to agreed amounts, we may not be able to retain access to these channels at all or at similar pricing. Increasing competition for these distribution channels could cause our distribution costs to rise, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues and profitability. To the extent that existing or future intermediaries prefer to do business with our competitors, the sales of our products as well as our market share, revenues and profitability could decline.

We and our third-party service providers, which includes securities pricing and transaction processing services, rely on numerous technology systems, and a temporary business interruption or security breach could negatively impact our business and profitability. Our business will suffer if our technology systems fail or are interrupted or if security breaches or other disruptions compromise our information.

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Our technology systems and those of our third-party service providers are critical to our operations. The ability to consistently and reliably obtain accurate securities pricing information, process client portfolio and fund shareholder transactions and provide reports and other customer service to fund shareholders and clients in other accounts managed by us is essential to our continuing success. Any delays or inaccuracies in obtaining pricing information, processing such transactions or such reports, other breaches and errors, and any inadequacies in other customer service, could result in reimbursement obligations or other liabilities, or alienate customers and potentially give rise to claims against us. Our customer service capability, as well as our ability to obtain prompt and accurate securities pricing information and to process transactions and reports, is highly dependent on our third-party service providers’ information systems. Any failure or interruption of those systems, whether resulting from technology or infrastructure breakdowns, defects or external causes such as fire, natural disaster, viruses, acts of terrorism or power disruptions, could result in financial loss, negatively impact our reputation, and negatively affect our ability to do business. Although we have in place disaster recovery plans, we may experience temporary interruptions if a natural disaster or prolonged power outages were to occur which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, like other companies in the financial services industry, our computer systems are regularly subject to and are expected to continue to be the target of computer viruses or other malicious codes, unauthorized access, cyber-attacks or other computer-related penetrations. While we have experienced threats to our data and systems, to date, we are not aware that we have experienced a material breach of cyber security. Over time, however, the sophistication of cyber threats continues to increase, and any controls we put in place and preventative actions we take to reduce the risk of cyber incidents and protect our information may be insufficient to detect or prevent unauthorized access, cyber-attacks or other security breaches to our computer systems or those of third parties with whom we do business. Breach of our technology systems or those of third parties with whom we do business through cyber-attacks, or failure to manage and secure our technology environment, could result in interruptions or malfunctions in the operations of our business, loss of valuable information, liability for stolen assets or information, remediation costs to repair damage caused by a breach, additional costs to mitigate against future incidents and litigation costs resulting from an incident.

We and certain of our third-party vendors receive and store personal information as well as non-public business information. Although we and our third-party vendors take precautions, we may still be vulnerable to hacking or other unauthorized use. A breach of the systems or hardware could result in an unauthorized access to our proprietary business or client data or release of this type of data, which could subject us to legal liability or regulatory action under data protection and privacy laws which may result in fines or penalties, the termination of existing client contracts, costly mitigation activities and harm to our reputation, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Ownership of a relatively large percentage of our common stock is concentrated with a small number of shareholders, which could increase the volatility in our stock trading and dramatically affect our share price.

A large percentage of our common stock is held by a limited number of shareholders. If our larger shareholders decide to liquidate their positions, it could cause significant fluctuation in the share price of our common stock. Public companies with a relatively concentrated level of institutional shareholders, such as we have, often have difficulty generating trading volume in their stock.

Civil litigation and government investigations or proceedings could adversely affect our business.

Many aspects of our business involve substantial risks of liability, and there have been substantial incidences of litigation and regulatory investigations in the financial services industry in recent years, including customer claims as well as class action suits seeking substantial damages. From time to time, we and/or our funds may be named as defendants or co-defendants in lawsuits or be involved in disputes that involve the threat of lawsuits seeking substantial damages. We and/or our funds are also involved from time to time in governmental

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and self-regulatory organization investigations and proceedings. Any of these lawsuits, investigations or proceedings could result in reputational damage, loss of clients and assets, settlements, awards, injunctions, fines, penalties, increased costs and expenses in resolving a claim, diversion of employee resources and resulting financial losses. Predicting the outcome of such matters is inherently difficult, particularly where claims are brought on behalf of various classes of claimants or by a large number of claimants, when claimants seek substantial or unspecified damages or when investigations or legal proceedings are at an early stage. A substantial judgment, settlement, fine or penalty could be material to our operating results or cash flows for a particular period, depending on our results for that period, or could cause us significant reputational harm, which could harm our business prospects.

We depend to a large extent on our business relationships and our reputation to attract and retain clients. As a result, allegations of improper conduct by private litigants, including investors in our funds, or regulators, whether the ultimate outcome is favorable or unfavorable to us, as well as negative publicity and press speculation about us, our investment activities or the asset management industry in general, whether or not valid, may harm our reputation, which may be more damaging to our business than to other types of businesses. We may incur substantial legal expenses in defending against proceedings commenced by a client, regulatory authority or other private litigant. Substantial legal liability levied on us could cause significant reputational harm and have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

We have a significant portion of our assets invested in marketable securities that are primarily comprised of our seed capital program.

At December 31, 2014, the Company had $238.1 million of seed capital investments. A decline in the value of equity, fixed income and alternative securities could lower the value of these investments and result in declines in our non-operating income and net income. In addition, increases or decreases in the value of these investments will increase the volatility of our earnings.

We cannot assure you that our intended quarterly distributions will be paid each quarter or at all.

The declaration, payment and determination of the amount of our quarterly dividend, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors, who may change our dividend policy at any time. In making decisions regarding our quarterly dividend, our Board of Directors considers general economic and business conditions, our strategic plans and prospects, our businesses and investment opportunities, our financial condition and

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operating results, working capital requirements and anticipated cash needs, contractual restrictions and obligations, legal, tax, regulatory and other restrictions that may have implications on the payment of distributions by us to our common shareholders or by our subsidiaries to us, and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant. We cannot assure you that any distributions, whether quarterly or otherwise, will be paid.

We may need to raise additional capital in the future, and resources may not be available to us in sufficient amounts or on acceptable terms, which could have an adverse impact on our business.

Our ability to meet the future cash needs of the Company is dependent upon our ability to generate cash. Although the Company has been successful in generating sufficient cash in the past, it may not be successful in generating additional cash in the future. As of December 31, 2014, we maintained a strong cash and working capital position and had no debt outstanding, however, we may need to raise capital to fund new business initiatives and financing may not be available to us in sufficient amounts, on acceptable terms, or at all. Our ability to access capital markets efficiently depends on a number of factors, including the state of credit and equity markets, interest rates and credit spreads. If we are unable to access sufficient capital on acceptable terms our business could be adversely impacted.

We have corporate governance provisions that may make an acquisition of us more difficult.

Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could discourage, delay, or prevent a merger, acquisition, or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions also could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. Stockholders who wish to participate in these transactions may not have the opportunity to do so. In addition, the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law also restrict certain business combinations with interested stockholders.

Our insurance policies may not cover all liabilities and losses to which we may be exposed.

We carry insurance in amounts and under terms that we believe are appropriate. Our insurance may not cover all liabilities and losses to which we may be exposed. Certain insurance coverage may not be available or may be prohibitively expensive in future periods. As our insurance policies come up for renewal, we may need to assume higher deductibles or pay higher premiums, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

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SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains statements that are, or may be considered to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs or expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by such forward-looking terminology as “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “continue,” “project,” “opportunity,” “predict,” “would,” “potential,” “future,” “forecast,” “guarantee,” “assume,” “likely,” “target” or similar statements or variations of such terms.

Our forward-looking statements are based on a series of expectations, assumptions and projections about our Company and the markets in which we operate, are not guarantees of future results or performance and involve substantial risks and uncertainty, including assumptions and projections concerning our assets under management, net cash inflows and outflows, operating cash flows and future credit facilities, for all future periods. All of our forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K only.

We can give no assurance that such expectations or forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Actual results may differ materially. We do not undertake or plan to update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in plans, assumptions, estimates or projections, or other circumstances occurring after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, even if such results, changes or circumstances make it clear that any forward-looking information will not be realized. If there are any future public statements or disclosures by us which modify or impact any of the forward-looking statements contained in or accompanying this Annual Report on Form 10-K, such statements or disclosures will be deemed to modify or supersede such statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our business and our forward-looking statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including those discussed under “Risk Factors,” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Any occurrence of, or any material adverse change in, one or more risk factors or risks and uncertainties referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or our other periodic reports filed with the SEC could materially and adversely affect our operations, financial results, cash flows, prospects and liquidity. You are urged to carefully consider all such factors.

None.

We lease our principal offices, which are located at 100 Pearl St., Hartford, CT 06103. In addition, we lease office space in Illinois, California, Massachusetts and New York. We believe our office facilities are suitable and adequate for our business as it is presently conducted.

The Company is regularly involved in litigation and arbitration as well as examinations, inquiries and investigations by various regulatory bodies, including the SEC, involving its compliance with, among other things, securities laws, client investment guidelines, laws governing the activities of broker-dealers and other laws and regulations affecting its products and other activities. Legal and regulatory matters of this nature involve or may involve the Company’s activities as an employer, issuer of securities, investor, investment

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adviser, broker-dealer or taxpayer. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Company discusses matters with its regulators raised during regulatory examinations or is otherwise subject to their inquiry. These matters could result in censures, fines, penalties or other sanctions.

The Company accrues for a liability when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required in both the determination of probability and the determination as to whether a loss is reasonably estimable. In addition, in the event the Company determines that a loss is not probable, but is reasonably possible, and it becomes possible to develop what the Company believes to be a reasonable range of possible loss, then the Company will include disclosures related to such matter as appropriate and in compliance with ASC 450, Loss Contingencies. The disclosures, accruals or estimates, if any, resulting from the foregoing analysis are reviewed at least quarterly and adjusted to reflect the impact of negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel and other information and events pertaining to a particular matter. The Company believes, based on its current knowledge, that the outcomes of its legal and regulatory proceedings are not likely, either individually or in the aggregate, to have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial condition. However, in the event of unexpected subsequent developments and given the inherent unpredictability of these legal and regulatory matters, the Company can provide no assurance that its assessment of any claim, dispute, regulatory examination or investigation or other legal matter will reflect the ultimate outcome and an adverse outcome in certain matters could, from time to time, have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations or cash flows in particular quarterly or annual periods.

Tom Cummins v. Virtus Investment Partners Inc. et al

On February 20, 2015, a putative class action complaint alleging violation of the federal securities laws was filed by an individual shareholder against the Company and certain of the Company’s current officers in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint was purportedly filed on behalf of all purchasers of the Company’s common stock between May 28, 2013 and December 22, 2014, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The complaint alleges that, during the Class Period, the defendants disseminated materially false and misleading statements and concealed material adverse facts relating to certain funds subadvised by F-Squared Investments. The complaint alleges claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Rule 10b-5. The plaintiff seeks to recover unspecified damages on behalf of the class members. The Company believes that the suit is without merit and intends to defend it vigorously.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the trading symbol “VRTS.” As of February 12, 2015, we had 8,977,784 shares of our common stock outstanding that were held by approximately 68,000 holders of record. The table below sets forth the quarterly high and low sales prices of our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market for each quarter in the last two fiscal years.

On February 18, 2015, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.45 per common share to be paid on May 13, 2015 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 30, 2015.

There have been no non-cash dividends on our common stock with respect to the periods presented. The continuation of the payment of any dividends on our common stock and the amount thereof will be determined by the board of directors depending upon, among other factors, the Company’s earnings, operations, financial condition, capital requirements and general business outlook at the time payment is considered.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

During 2014, we repurchased a total of 225,441 shares of our common stock pursuant to the Board of Director’s fourth quarter 2010 authorization. On December 10, 2014, our Board of Directors authorized an additional 500,000 shares of our common stock to be repurchased under the share repurchase program. As of December 31, 2014, 1.2 million shares of our common stock have been authorized to be repurchased under the program, and 624,559 shares remain available for repurchase. Under the terms of the program, we may repurchase shares of our common stock from time to time at our discretion through open market repurchases and/or privately negotiated transactions, depending on price and prevailing market and business conditions. The program is intended to generally offset dilution caused by shares issued under equity-based plans. The program, which has no specified term, may be suspended or terminated at any time.

The following table sets forth information regarding our share repurchases in each month during the quarter ended December 31, 2014:

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There were no unregistered sales of equity securities during the period covered by this Annual Report. Shares of our common stock purchased by participants in our Employee Stock Purchase Plan were delivered to participant accounts via open market purchases at fair value by the third-party administrator under the plan. We do not reserve shares for this plan or discount the purchase price of the shares.

For the year ended December 31, 2014, we paid $9.5 million in minimum employee tax withholding obligations related to employee share transactions.

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The following table sets forth our selected consolidated financial and other data at the dates and for the periods indicated. The selected financial data should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Overview

Our Business

We are a provider of investment management and related services to individuals and institutions. We use a multi-manager, multi-style approach, offering investment strategies from affiliated managers and unaffiliated subadvisers, each having its own distinct investment style, autonomous investment process and individual brand. By offering a broad array of products, we believe we can appeal to a greater number of investors, which allows us to have offerings across market cycles through changes in investor preferences. Our earnings are primarily driven by asset-based fees charged for services relating to these various products including investment management, fund administration, distribution and shareholder services.

We offer investment strategies for individual and institutional investors in different product structures and through multiple distribution channels. Our investment strategies are available in a diverse range of styles and disciplines, managed by a collection of boutique investment managers, both affiliated and unaffiliated. We have offerings in various asset classes (domestic and international equity, fixed income and alternative), in all market capitalizations (large, mid and small), in different styles (growth, blend and value) and with various investment approaches (fundamental, quantitative and thematic). Our retail products include open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds, variable insurance funds and separately managed accounts. We also offer certain of our investment strategies to institutional clients.

We distribute our open-end mutual funds through financial intermediaries. We have broad access in the retail market, with distribution partners that include national and regional broker-dealers, independent broker-dealers and independent financial advisory firms. In many of these firms, we have a number of products that are on firms’ preferred “recommended” lists and on fee-based advisory programs. Our sales efforts are supported by regional sales professionals, a national account relationship group and separate teams for the retirement and insurance markets.

Our separately managed accounts are distributed through financial intermediaries and directly by teams at our affiliated managers. Our institutional distribution strategy is an affiliate-centric and coordinated model. Through relationships with consultants, our affiliates target key market segments, including foundations and endowments, corporate, public and private pension plans and unaffiliated mutual funds.

Market Developments

In 2014, the global equity markets were up as evidenced by the MSCI World Index ending the year at 1,710 as compared to 1,661 at the start of the year, an increase of 3.0%. The major U.S. equity indexes were also up for 2014, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending the year at 17,823, from 16,577 at the beginning of the year, an increase of 7.5%, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased by 11.4% ending the year at 2,059, from 1,848 at the beginning of the year. The major U.S. bond index, the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, increased 6.0% in 2014 ending the year at 1,915, compared to 1,807 at the beginning of the year.

The financial markets have had and are likely to continue to have a significant impact on asset flows and the value of our assets under management. The capital and financial markets could experience fluctuation and volatility, as they have in the past, which could impact relative investment returns and asset flows among investment products as well as investor choices and preferences among investment products, including equity, fixed income and alternative products.

Financial Highlights

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Assets Under Management

At December 31, 2014, we managed $56.7 billion in total assets, representing a decrease of $1.0 billion, or 1.8%, from the $57.7 billion managed at December 31, 2013. The decrease in assets under management was due to the liquidation of our money market open-end funds of $1.6 billion, net outflows of $1.2 billion, $1.0 billion from dividends distributed, net of reinvestments, and the impact on assets from the use of leverage, offset by market appreciation of $2.8 billion. The 2014 full year net outflows of $0.5 billion in our long-term open-end funds was the result of fourth quarter 2014 net outflows of $2.2 billion, offset by net inflows of $1.7 billion from the first three quarters of 2014. The $2.2 billion in net outflows during the fourth quarter of 2014 was primarily attributable to $1.8 billion in net outflows in our domestic equity, Premium AlphaSector and alternative Dynamic AlphaSector funds. We believe several factors individually and collectively contributed to the outflows, including reactions to a large capital gain distribution communicated in the fourth quarter of 2014, the absolute performance of these products in a rising market environment and developments at the funds’ subadviser, F-Squared Investments, including a regulatory settlement and the resignation of its CEO in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the related announcements and media coverage. At December 31, 2014, F-Squared Investments served as subadviser to the Virtus mutual funds that represented $9.9 billion of assets under management. In 2015, we continued to experience net outflows in our long-term open-end funds primarily attributable to net outflows in the Premium AlphaSector and Dynamic AlphaSector funds. The changes in our assets under management may also be affected by the factors discussed in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K “Risk Factors”.

Long-term assets under management, which exclude cash management products, were $56.7 billion at December 31, 2014, an increase of $0.5 billion, or 0.9%, from $56.2 billion at December 31, 2013. Average assets under management, which generally correspond to our fee-earning asset levels, were $59.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2014, an increase of $6.1 billion, or 11.6%, from $53.0 billion for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Operating Results

In 2014, total revenues increased 15.8% to $450.6 million from $389.2 million in 2013. Revenues increased in 2014 compared to 2013, primarily as a result of an increase in average assets under management and an increase in fee rates. Operating income increased by 15.2% from $113.5 million in 2013 to $130.7 million in 2014, due to increased revenues driven by higher levels of average assets under management partially offset by higher employment expenses associated with personnel additions to support the growth of the business and distribution and administrative expenses attributable to the launch of the new DSE closed-end fund.

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Assets Under Management by Product

The following table summarizes our assets under management by product: