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.

Pilgrim America Capital Corp. of Phoenix, Ariz., has closed on its acquisition of the 11 retail Nicholas-Applegate Mutual Funds of San Diego, Calif. The funds were purchased for $24 million.

ND Holdings of Minot, N.D., acquired the Lancaster Nebraska Tax-Free Fund and merged it into the Nebraska Municipal Fund on May 24. The Lancaster Nebraska Tax-Free Fund had assets of $13 million, and these were merged with Nebraska Municipal Fund's $28 million of assets, bringing the fund's total assets to $41 million. ND Holdings bought the fund from Smith Hayes Financial Services Corp. of Lincoln, Neb.

Alleghany Asset Management of Chicago has purchased Blairlogie Capital Management from Pimco Advisors of Newport Beach, Calif. Blairlogie, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, manages $890 million in assets, primarily in non-U.S. equities. Stuart Bilton, president of Alleghany, said the purchase of Blairlogie gives his firm international investing expertise.

The Depository Trust Company and the National Securities Clearing Corporation plan to merge. DTC and NSCC made the decision after nine months of discussion between their boards and management teams.

American Century Investments of Kansas City, Mo., is making a minority investment in W.R. Hambrecht + Co., an entrepreneurial investment bank in San Francisco. American Century made the investment in part because of the bank's capabilities to offer initial public offerings online, according to Harold Bradley, senior vice president of American Century.

First Union Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., will pay approximately $1.1 billion in stock to purchase EVEREN Capital Corp. of Chicago, the companies announced last week. First Union said the merger will give it national retail distribution.

American International Group (AIG) of New York will acquire a majority stake in John McStay Investment Counsel, an investment management company based in Dallas, for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close in June.

Analytic Investors' four mutual fund portfolios have joined the UAM Funds family. Based in Los Angeles, Analytic Investors is a diversified asset management firm that specializes in quantitative investment techniques that make use of mathematical models. These models include variables that cover multiple aspects of a stock's value. The firm's four portfolios include: Analytic Enhanced Equity, Analytic Defensive Equity, Analytic Master Fixed Income and Analytic Short-Term Government.

State Street Global Advisors of Boston has contracted with First Data Investors Services Group of Westborough, Mass., to run State Street's defined contribution service center in Minneapolis. There, State Street provides telephone service and daily record-keeping for 36 of its 297 defined contribution clients.