Money Management Executive Latest News

Principal Preservation Portfolios of Milwaukee, a fund family with $1.2 billion in assets under management, has announced that it has changed its name to the North Track Funds.

Prudential Retirement Services of Newark, N.J. has announced it is the first defined contribution retirement plan provider to enable customers with retirement accounts to make mutual fund exchanges, change their investment allocations and rebalance their retirement accounts using wireless handheld Palm personal computers.

Jeffrey Carney has been named president of the Canadian division of Fidelity Investments of Boston. Carney had been executive vice president of TD Bank of Toronto, in charge of its retail distribution business.

A U.S. District Court order issued late last month placing three of the high-yield municipal bond funds of the Heartland Group of Milwaukee in receivership probably will lead to liquidation of the funds. But it may also be a prelude to new guidance and regulation on fund valuation procedures, according to industry analysts and lawyers.

Net inflows into mutual funds dropped dramatically in February to $3.95 billion, down from $29.5 billion in January, according to Financial Research Corp. of Boston. That drop is reflective of the declining market and is not at all surprising, according to Avi Nachmany, director of research at Strategic Insight of New York.

The significance of the recently announced cutbacks by several asset management companies triggered by the declining market, is not in their immediate effect on business for the companies, according to analysts. Most of the cutbacks were in operations positions, such as telephone operators - people who were hired to handle increased volume during the market's surge. The cutbacks were significant, though, because they suggest that those firms believe they were over-staffed for the future, and that they are not anticipating a substantial market rebound soon, analysts said.

The Dreyfus Corporation of New York has tentatively agreed to pay $20.5 million to settle a federal class action lawsuit and a state lawsuit which were brought against the fund company in the summer of 1998 by investors in two Dreyfus mutual funds.

A Securities and Exchange Commission rule initiative that was strongly criticized by consumer groups several years ago when it was first suggested has reappeared on the SEC's docket as part of an impending rule proposal expected by June 28.

College basketball has March Madness and now portfolio management has its own competition showcasing young, up and coming talent. The University of Dayton will play host to the first national portfolio competition April 6 through April 8, pitting student-led investment teams against one another in a showdown to determine which schools offer the best managed growth, blend and value funds, according to Dr. David Sauer, associate professor of finance at the University of Dayton.

The proposed merger of American General of Houston and Prudential PLC of London may be in trouble. When initially announced on March 12, the stock swap was valued at $49.52 per American General share. That equates to $26.5 billion based on the 10-day trailing average closing price of Prudential stock as of March 9. On word of the proposed merger, however, the price of Prudential shares dropped dramatically. Since the announcement, there has been considerable speculation by analysts as to whether the deal will be completed.