Industry

Legg Mason has laid off 120 employees, 20 of whom worked in mutual fund administration and 100 of whom worked in its Western Asset Management subsidiary.

Hennessy Advisors has acquired the Tamarack Large Cap Growth Fund and the Tamarack Value Fund, which hold $158 million in assets between them. Voyageur Asset Management, a division of RBC Asset Management, was the investment advisor before.

Fidelity Investments has hired Christopher Sullivan to serve as head of its bond group, in charge of $170 billion of assets under management.

Even as it continues to lay off 3,000, Fidelity Investments is looking for talented analysts and investment professionals as it seeks to restructure and strengthen its capabilities in the midst of the economic downturn, The Boston Globe reports.

Certainly, the pace of mergers and acquisitions has slowed in the face of the weak economy, but large financial advisory firms are finding great bargains on small firms, which have become more interested in selling their company, Dow Jones reports.

Memani Leads Fixed Income at Oppenheimer

American Funds will lay off an additional 500 people this year, on top of the 500 who lost their jobs in January. That will leave the 80-year-old firm with a workforce of about 8,500.

In what would be a tremendous upset in the mutual fund industry, Barclays is shopping its iShares exchange-traded fund unit.

Aviva Taps Ranges, Jacobs For Development, CIO

The Investment Company Institute has named Dean R. Sackett III and Donald C. Auerbach as leaders of its government affairs staff.