AMR Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas, the parent company of American Airlines, is considering giving flight to its entire investment management unit, including its proprietary mutual fund unit.

As Wall Street's woes continue, mutual fund executives have come to think of their industry as a drawing on an Etch-A-Sketch. When it gets messed up, they can shake it up and draw it over again.

July

Many fund companies are at a crossroads, according to Charles O'Neill, president, Diversified Management Resources. In order to keep costs down, many complexes that built out during the boom years of the 1990s are going to have to drop part of their business and concentrate more on specific areas, O'Neill said. "Fund companies are going to have to decide essentially whether they are product distributors or product manufacturers. That's what it comes down to," O'Neill said.

If Wade Dokken, CEO of American Skandia, is a betting man, he may be about to lose his shirt. In March of this year, when MFMN asked him about the likelihood of a sale of the company, he responded, "I'll take all those side bets."

Denver mutual fund giant Janus' protracted fight to spin off of its parent, Stilwell Financial, of Kansas City, Mo., has yielded it a more astounding prize. Control of Stilwell.

At the start of 2002, fund families held off merging or liquidating their weaker funds for one quarter while awaiting a market rebound. When it didn't come, fund share class mergers and liquidations skyrocketed back up to their record levels of 2001.

State Street Corp. of Boston plans to buy International Fund Services, a Dublin alternative investment and hedge fund manager and custodian. The purchase, State Street's second in the hedge fund business and its first in global custody, rounds out the services State Street needs to enter the hedge fund management and custody business, according to the firm.

As a result of a 10% decline in assets since the end of 2000, John Hancock Funds of Boston is on the hunt for a few more outside mutual funds or small fund families that it can acquire and merge into its $18.7 billion family of 50 funds. The fund complex is a wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Financial Services, which collectively manages $29 billion in open- and closed-end funds, separate accounts and retirement plans.

Mergers and acquisitions among investment advisor firms have decreased dramatically this year, which should surprise no one. But the more telling statistic is the precipitous drop in the value of the deals - down 83% this year from record levels in 2000.

Tocqueville Asset Management of New York has a voracious appetite. As part of an effort to grow its $2.2 billion in assets to $3 billion over the next six months, the firm has been actively acquiring mutual funds.

OppenheimerFunds' acquisition of Houston asset manager Gulf Investment Management last week is part of a three-year strategy to build its services for high-net-worth clients, a company official said in an interview. The move comes during a time when wealthy investors are increasingly demanding more advice and a greater customization to their products

Bank of Montreal's acquisition last week of the North American operations of online broker CSFBdirect is part of an effort to ramp up the Canadian bank's U.S. mutual fund sales, the company said last week.

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.