Mutual fund prospectus provider NewRiver is suing Morningstar for using Internet espionage to steal information from its patent-protected system.

Mutual fund prospectus provider NewRiver is suing Morningstar for using Internet espionage to steal information from its patent-protected system.

In response to a report in The Boston Globe that Fidelity Investments is exploring a sale, chairman Edward C. “Ned” Johnson issued a rare response denouncing the rumor.

The events that occurred in the financial services industry over the past year were once thought inconceivable. At this point, regulators are chomping at the bit to reverse how Wall Street does business, and investors are downright spooked. The editors of SourceMedia's business publications offer their views on how these dramatic shifts on Wall Street and in corporate America will impact businesses and investors this year.

Large asset management mergers and acquisitions deals will likely occur this year, according to a report from Jefferies Putnam Lovell, as firms take advantage of distressed sales and divestitures.

Global research firm Morningstar has acquired U.K.-based Tenfore Systems, a privately owned provider of market data feeds and technology, for $20.9 million.

A consortium comprised of New York investment firms J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management and Paulson & Co. is set to acquire distressed IndyMac Bancorp, according to published reports.

Peter Cieszko, who was selected to become president and chief executive officer of Evergreen Investments next month, has suddenly left, “to pursue other opportunities,” the firm said.

GLG Partners, a hedge fund, is acquiring the U.K. fund management arm of Societe Generale. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, the firms revealed that the unit has $8.2 billion of assets under management.

Neuberger Berman managers have bid for and won the right to buy the asset management business in a court-supervised sale, a source confirmed with Investment Dealers’ Digest.

Morningstar has acquired the business operations of InvestData of South Africa, a fund data provider, for undisclosed terms.

More than 110,000 people working in finance in the U.S. have lost their jobs so far this year, but that could nearly double to more than 200,000 in the final weeks of the year, the Anniston Star reports.

Stressing that the reorganization is not motivated by the financial crisis but a strong desire to improve accountability and, with that, performance, Putnam Investments Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds announced the firm is doing away with team-managed equity mutual funds. Instead, those funds will be run by single portfolio managers.

The financial turmoil in the markets is far from over, and mutual fund firms can expect assets to continue to decline further, investors to remain skittish, and regulators to be reactive well into 2009, experts say.

Referring to today’s stock and corporate prices as bargain basement, the chief executive officer of Aberdeen Asset Management of the U.K. said he is interested in purchasing other companies, particularly hedge funds-of-funds and private equity firms, Reuters reports.

“We have plenty of cash and investments on our balance sheet. I think we are in a good position to make acquisitions.” That was a recent remark by Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto to Reuters. Morningstar has $309.6 million in cash and investments on its balance sheet.

Speaking before students at MIT, billionaire investor George Soros predicted that the number of hedge funds could shrink by as many as two-thirds, the Ottowa Citizen reports.

Banks and other financial companies that are willing to stomach a few more quarters of volatility could find themselves well positioned to acquire wealth management companies or talent, according to analysts and industry executives.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the largest financial clearinghouse in the U.S., is in talks to merge with its European rival LCH.Clearnet in a deal worth approximately $950 million.

The credit crisis fueled a substantial 33% increase in asset management mergers and acquisitions in the third quarter, compared to 3Q07, Jefferies Putnam Lovell announced Tuesday. There were 69 M&A deals across the globe, up from 52 a year earlier.