Industry

Alliance Capital Management and Hanwha Securities announced the signing of a letter of intent for Alliance Capital to assume full control of Hanwha Investment Trust (HITCO), a Korean investment management company.

The boards of Scudder New Europe Fund and Kemper Europe Fund announced their approval of the reorganization of both funds into a single open-end fund. The combination must be approved by shareholders of both funds.

The U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian financial services company has joined with a mutual fund firm to seek the assets of high net-worth investors here and in Canada.

Funds Distributor Incorporated (FDI) of Boston announced it has expanded its business relationship with Dresdner RCM Global Investors, a subsidiary of Dresdner Bank, one of the world's largest financial organizations.

Principal Financial Group of Des Moines announced that it will acquire Professional Pensions Incorporated (PPI) of East Haven, Conn.

Paine Webber Group and the Yasuda Mutual Life Insurance Company are forming a joint venture to develop, sponsor and manage mutual funds and other retail asset management products in Japan. The Tokyo-based venture will be called Yasuda PaineWebber Mutual Fund Company. It will offer money market, reserved and capital guaranteed funds, 401(k) equivalent pension plans, mutual fund wrap accounts and other retail asset management products. The board of directors of the new company will consist of three senior executives from Yasuda and two from PaineWebber. Yasuda has been a shareholder in PaineWebber since 1987, and now holds about eight percent of the firm's outstanding stock. It is Japan's oldest life insurance company and the seventh-largest in assets.

Charles Schwab will not be wasting any time building on its new Canadian foothold to take on the bank owned firms that dominate the Canadian discount brokerage industry.

Intrepid Capital Corporation and Enviroq Corporation have reorganized, resulting in Enviroq Corporation, Institutional Asset Management and Capital Research Corporation becoming wholly-owned subsidiaries of Intrepid.

Aeltus Investment Management, an independently managed subsidiary of Aetna Retirement Services, is joining forces with First Data Investor Services Group to service mutual funds and variable insurance products.

Progressive Asset Management, which claims to be the first independent full service investment firm specializing in socially-responsible investing, and Paradox Holdings, the owner of Financial West Investment Group, have announced they have signed a letter of intent to form a strategic alliance. FWG is a broker/dealer with 60 offices and 300 registered representatives.