Industry

In the wake of its acquisition of Bankers Trust Corp. of New York in June, Deutsche Bank of Frankfurt, Germany, is taking steps to merge its U.S. fund operations.

John Turner, chairman of ReliaStar Financial Corp. of Minneapolis, said his company may purchase additional mutual fund companies besides Pilgrim Capital Corp. of Phoenix.

PFPC Worldwide, the pooled investment products and mutual fund administration, transfer agency and back office servicing unit of PNC Bank Corp. in Pittsburgh, has agreed to purchase First Data Investor Services Group for $1.1 billion in cash. Investor Services Group is the investment product servicing arm of First Data Corp. of Atlanta, one of the largest electronic payment and processing services companies. PFPC is based in Wilmington, Del.

Frank Russell Co. of Tacoma, Wash. has teamed up with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi of Tokyo to create a family of multi-manager funds. This will be the first time that multi-manager funds have been available to individual investors in Japan.

Deutsche Asset Management of New York has consolidated the marketing and sales divisions of the mutual fund businesses of Deutsche Funds, Bankers Trust, BT Alex. Brown and Morgan Grenfell under Deutsche Asset Mangement.

Putnam Investments of Boston has joined with the Thomas H. Lee Company of Boston, a venture capital firm, to form a partnership which will permit Putnam to sell stakes in venture capital funds and other investment products to institutions and advisors serving high-net-worth investors. The partnership, to be known as TH Lee, Putnam Capital, plans to offer its first fund by Dec. 31. Putnam will have a 25 percent stake in the partnership, with Lee owning the balance. Putnam also has acquired a stake in Lee. Terms of that arrangement were not disclosed.

Waddell & Reed Financial of Overland Park, Kan., has agreed to acquire Austin, Calvert & Flavin of San Antonio, Texas. The companies announced the deal on June 29. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Morningstar, the mutual fund tracking firm in Chicago, plans to expand its presence on the Internet with a $91 million investment it has received from Softbank Corp. of Tokyo. Softbank invests in Internet businesses. The investment gives Softbank a 20 percent ownership interest in Morningstar. Softbank intends to build the world's first Internet conglomerate.

Although Mutual Fund Market News reported last month that PIMCO Advisors Holdings of Newport Beach, Calif., has formed a new global unit to manage its international offices, there were reports last week that PIMCO is now looking to be acquired by an international firm because it is dissatisfied with its U.S. growth.

The name Orbitex may not be a household name in the mutual fund industry, but the chief executive officer of Orbitex Management of New York plans to change that and make his company a well-known brand within the next year.