Industry

Merrill Lynch Canada's decision to sell its $2.8 billion in Canadian mutual fund assets to competitor Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce may have been based on research that shows the wealth market in Canada is shrinking.

Acquisitions, product consolidation, a shift to outsourcing--it's all part of the plan for Investec's U.S. investment management unit, said its managing director, Royce Brennan.

New York-based investment advisor Neuberger Berman announced that it will acquire the $800 million in assets managed by Oscar Capital Management LLC. The deal is expected to close by year-end.

If fund companies aren't building private wealth management products, they are buying them. A look at some of the recent acquisitions in the fund industry finds that the companies acquired are, in many cases, wealth management firms. And in doing so, mutual funds appear fearful of losing their luster to hedge funds, managed accounts, wrap programs and other wealth products.

Fund mergers have increased recently, and as long as the current market downturn continues, the numbers of mergers will only go up, according to industry analysts.

Roulston & Co. Investment Management and The Hickory Group, two investment advisors based in Cleveland, will merge, the companies announced last week. Roulston & Company Investment Management is the advisor to the Roulston family of mutual funds.

In a deal valued at more than $247 million, asset manager AMG will acquire a majority stake in Freiss Associates, the growth-oriented investment advisory firm best known for handling the well-known Brandywine fund family, it was announced today.

In back-to-back deals Boston investment management firm Eaton Vance Corp. acquired majority stakes in two asset management firms in an effort to ramp up its separate accounts business and pump new products into the financial advice distribution channel.

The John Nuveen Company announced it will acquire institutional money manager Symphony Asset Management for $210 million in cash plus potential future growth incentives.

While the number of mergers and acquisitions between investment advisors this year has kept up with the fast pace of 2000, the dollar amounts of those deals is down dramatically.