Industry

The Bank of New York has agreed to acquire Ivy Asset Management of Garden City, N.Y. for an undisclosed price, Bank of New York announced.

AIM Funds Management of Toronto became Canada's newest foreign-owned mutual fund giant on Aug. 1, with the completion of its takeover of Trimark Financial of Toronto. It hopes to make further market-share gains by offering one of the country's most diverse product lines, introducing new low-fee share classes and expanding its distribution channels.

In spite of the rush to merge or acquire another firm in the money management industry, two-thirds of acquired fund companies failed to exceed their pre-transaction asset growth rates following a sale, according to Cerulli Associates of Boston.

Templeton Management Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources of San Mateo, Calif., has agreed to acquire Bissett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. of Calgary for $95 million. Founded by David Bissett in 1982, Bissett provides investment advisory services throughout Canada to a broad base of clients, including pension plans and foundations and high-net-worth and other individual investors through Bissett's 12 mutual funds. The acquisition is expected to close in October.

Franklin Resources of San Mateo, Calif., adviser to the Franklin Templeton Funds and Mutual Series Funds, is planning to buy at least part of the asset management unit of Nedcor Investment Bank Holdings Limited, a South African banking group based in Johannesburg, South Africa, according to a source close to the negotiations. A Franklin Templeton spokesperson declined to comment.

ING Groep of Amsterdam has signed a definitive agreement to buy Aetna Financial and Aetna International of Hartford for $7.7 billion - $5 billion in cash plus the assumption of $2.7 billion of Aetna's total $5 billion of debt.

Slowing growth of the mutual fund industry, a large number of funds on the market, disappointing share prices of publicly-traded asset management firms and competition from other types of financial service companies have prompted a recent spate of mergers and acquisitions, according to analysts.

Info-One, a financial services consulting and technology company, of Campbell, Calif., has acquired Financial Planning Resources of Atlanta, Ga. for an undisclosed sum, Info-One has announced. Financial Planning Resources owns The VARDS Report and the VARDS Total Reference system.

The acquisition of three asset management companies by European firms within the past two weeks may be a prelude to additional foreign acquisitions, mutual fund analysts said.

The Lord Abbett Equity Fund, a ten-year-old insured mutual fund with $55 million in assets, was merged out of existence on May 31, according to a proxy filing May 25. Shareholders voted to merge the Lord Abbett Equity Fund into the Lord Abbett Large Cap Growth Fund, a similar fund, on May 26.