Industry

Cigna Corp.'s sale of its pension and 401(k) business to Prudential Financial for $2.1 billion in cash vaults Prudential into the top tier of the country's leading retirement services and products providers. The transaction, expected to close early next year, will plump Prudential Retirement's assets to nearly $120 billion and expand its participant base to 2 million.

Who says a lion and a bear can't cohabitate?

Asset management firm Dreyfus will market $4.7 billion in Bear Stearns assets, the companies announced last Tuesday.

By integrating Lockwood Financial Services and its Pershing unit into one separately managed account platform, Bank of New York claims that it will be able to increase distribution and launch the next generation of these products.

Wall Street marveled last week at how Bank of America's gargantuan purchase of FleetBoston Financial Corp. creates the second-largest bank in the United States. But little has been mentioned about how it will result in the fourth-largest fund complex in the country.

Despite the scandalous black cloud that has settled over the fund industry, several investment management companies are still happily shopping for appealing mutual fund complexes, or even a single fund or two.

Not surprisingly in the asset management business these days, companies that once thought they could do it all are now returning to their core businesses and product lines.

Thomson Financial has partnered with CheckFree Services Corp. to add separately managed account data to the Thomson ONE Advisor portfolio management software for financial advisers. CheckFree's SMA database, which covers 5,000 platforms from 1,300 money managers, represents 90% of the largest investment firms in the nation.

Mellon Financial Corp. hardly sounds done making acquisitions to expand its private wealth management unit, which includes separately managed accounts.

Financial intermediaries often explain to clients that wants and needs are two different animals. But the same holds true for the intermediaries themselves, particularly separately managed account advisers.