The merger of NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse has been cleared on the New York side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have offered to cap fees on trading in their European derivatives contracts for three years in their last-ditch effort to get their $9 billion merger cleared by the European Union.

inShareWells Fargo & Co. has signed a deal to acquire investment boutique EverKey Global Partners.

Goldman Sachs' asset management division has agreed to purchase the mutual fund division of Dividend Growth Advisors, in a push to offer more income-generating funds.

Strategic Insight parent Asset International has completed its anticipated acquisition of certain FRC products—and says it will make “significant investments to strengthen, enhance and expand acquired FRC products.”

Corporate acquisitions using overpriced shares of stock rarely do much to cushion the decline the shares eventually suffer, according to a new study.

BOSTON—The largest, and most successful, asset managers are structured as partnerships, Bob Pozen, chairman emeritus of MFS Investment Management, told Fund Forum USA’s Global Fund Distribution Summit here Monday.

The owners of Standard & Poor’s Indices and Dow Jones Indices will create a joint venture in index services.

U.S. firms were the most active acquirers of emerging markets companies in the first half of 2011, according to KPMG International, closing 144 deals. This was nearly twice the 82 acquisitions by Canada. The U.K. made 62 deals, followed by Japan, with 61.

Sales of asset managers slowed in the most recent quarter after an 18-month surge as fewer independent and foreign-owned firms changed hands, according to Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP.

Having gone into bankruptcy, Financial Research Corp. is now being evaluated by Strategic Insight parent Asset International for potential purchase. Asset International, however, is only interested in purchasing certain FRC research products: those covering 529 college savings plans, alternative investments, target-date funds, industry assets under management by company and distribution channel, sub-advised funds and its “Monitor” research.

Touchstone Investments and Old Mutual Asset Management have entered into an agreement whereby Touchstone will acquire the $2 billion U.S. mutual fund business of Old Mutual, bringing Touchstone’s assets to nearly $10 billion. The deal will also add several new sub-advisors to Touchstone’s roster of fund managers.

State Street has acquired Complementa Investment-Controlling AG, a Swiss supplier of investment performance measurement and analytics services.

Guggenheim Partners and Rydex/SGI announced Wednesday that Guggenheim will acquire Rydex in the first quarter of 2012 and combine its asset management capabilities under the name Guggenheim Investments. Once the deal is closed, Guggenheim Investments will have $119 billion of assets under management. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

SS&C Technologies Holdings has completed its acquisition of BDO Simpson Xavier Fund Administration Services Limited, in Dublin, Ireland.

Broadridge has acquired Paladyne Systems, a provider of front-, middle- and back-office trading platforms for multiple asset classes, for $76.5 million. Paladyne also provides portfolio management tools, pricing and valuation applications, data warehousing and data aggregation and reporting.

Allianz announced Tuesday it is rolling up its Allianz asset management division and PIMCO units into a new structure to be called Allianz Asset Management, effective Jan. 1.

Natixis Global Advisors has acquired a controlling interest in Darius Capital Partners, an investment advisor that offers a menu of third-party hedging strategies. These include Undertakings for the Collective Investment of Transferable Securities (UCITs), managed accounts, hedge funds, hedge fund replicators, funds-of-funds and alternative exchange-traded funds.

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services will acquire Securities America, the embattled, independent broker-dealer subsidiary of Ameriprise, for an initial payment of $150 million in cash, according to a company statement released Wednesday morning.