Knight Capital Group said it agreed to acquire Astor Asset Management, LLC, a money management firm specializing in macro-economic strategy and construction of portfolios of exchange-traded funds. Knight said it would pay roughly $20 million in cash and stock, based on Astor’s assets under management at the close.

LPL Financial is acquiring “certain assets” from National Retirement Partners, the broker/dealer announced Wednesday.

Aon Corp. announced Monday it is buying Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion, with the aim of creating the world’s leading “human capital solutions” company. The combined company will be called Aon Hewitt.

Standard & Poor’s and Financial Research Corp. announced a content-licensing and distribution agreement Thursday whereby FRC data will be available on S&P’s MarketScope Advisor platform for financial advisers. Terms of the agreement, including financial considerations, were not disclosed. An S&P spokesman denied the deal is a precursor to an acquisition of FRC from its parent, private equity firm Mercatus Partners LLC.

To expand its footprint in the managed account business, Fiserv announced Monday it has acquired AdviceAmerica, a provider of financial planning software for independent advisors and institutions.

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UMB Fund Services has signed a deal to acquire the managed accounts solutions business of J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services.

Morningstar Inc. has completed its $42 million acquisition of Realpoint LLC, a Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organization (NRSRO) that specializes in structured finance.

Ameriprise Financial has put the finishing touches on its nearly $1 billion purchase of Bank of America’s long-term asset management business Columbia Management. The original agreement dates back to last September.

The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the asset management industry is expected to pick up for the rest of this year both nationally and globally after tumbling in the first quarter.

The country's two largest custody banks said they will keep looking for acquisitions, of whatever size, as they wait for higher interest rates to spur organic growth.

As sentiment among wealth managers shifts, more capital has become available and companies right-size, banks, trust companies, wealth managers, and bank brokerages that are in a strong position to expand into a new market and acquire new units, will do so. But it is also the moment when companies without the capital-and stability-will get left behind.

UMB Fund Services has renamed its Alternative Investment Services division JD Clark & Company, the company said today.

Advent Software has acquired Norwegian software provider Goya AS. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Through this acquisition, Advent now offers the product Tradex, which is complementary to Advent’s existing products and is already implemented at a significant number of Advent clients in Europe and the Middle East.

Affiliated Managers Group reported a fourth-quarter profit of $24.6 million, or 55 cents per share, reversing a loss of $83.7 million, or $2.12 a share, a year ago.

Carnegie Investment Bank AB, a Stockholm-based independent financial institution, has decided to let go of its asset management business and transfer ownership to investment companies Altor Equity Partners and Bure.

A former Merrill Lynch southeast regional managing director has been tapped to run JHS Capital Advisors, the brokerage arm of the firm founded by former GunnAllen chairman John Sykes.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has been gobbling up acquisitions throughout the recession in its quest to expand its business and extend its geographic reach.

Money manager Neuberger Berman has agreed to pay $200 million for a diversified portfolio of 21 private equity investments from a European office.

Affiliated Managers Group, a Boston asset manager, announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire Highbury Financial, an investment management holding company based in New York.