The Strong Funds is acquiring a small Midwest discount broker/dealer and plans, at the same time, to create its own online brokerage. Strong Capital Management of Menomonee Falls, Wis., announced Aug. 12 that it is acquiring discount broker Ziegler Thrift Trading (ZTT).

Standard & Poor's of New York has acquired a four-year-old mutual fund information and analysis provider in Japan, for an undisclosed amount. S&P said in a statement that the company, IFIS Inc. of Tokyo, is a leading provider of mutual fund analysis that includes "depth" and "local market knowledge."

PricewaterhouseCoopers of New York has acquired a part of the accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen LLP of Minneapolis in a deal announced last week.

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.

Mathers Fund of Chicago merged with Gabelli Asset Management of Rye, N.Y. on June 21. Henry G. Van der Eb, formerly chief executive of the Mathers Fund, is now president and CEO of the Gabelli Mathers Fund, which will remain in Chicago. Van der Eb said the deal will close subject to shareholder approval, with the shareholder meeting expected to take place in late July or early August.

Friends Ivory & Sime of London has acquired a 15 percent stake in Sumisei Global Investment Trust Management Co., a $2 billion mutual fund company based in Tokyo. Friends Ivory & Sime executives said the firm took the stake to establish a foothold in Japan with a partner that has a dominant market position.

Nvest of Boston has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Kobrick Funds, a family of three growth funds based in Boston, from Cendant Corp. of Parsippany, N.J. later this summer.

E*Trade Group of Palo Alto, Calif., the online discount brokerage, has announced plans to buy Telebanc Financial Corp. of Arlington, Va., the largest online bank in the U.S. However, it is still unclear how this might affect E*Trade's mutual fund business.

ND Holdings, the fund management and distribution company based in Minot, N.D., has agreed to purchase a 50 percent stake in Magic Internet Services, an Internet service provider also headquartered in Minot.

Invesco Funds Group of Denver, Colo., announced May 28 that its shareholders had approved merging eight funds and closing three in order to simplify its product line.

Nations Funds of Charlotte, N.C., has completed the integration of Pacific Horizon Funds into its fund family. Nations acquired six Pacific Horizon Funds on May 14 and May 21 and renamed them Nations Blue Chip Fund, Nations Asset Allocation Fund, Nations Capital Income Fund, Nations Intermediate Bond Fund, Nations California Tax-Exempt Reserves and Nations California Municipal Bond Fund.