Mutual funds

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

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds increased asset flows in November, according to a report by Morningstar Inc.

A pension fund has sued Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for its use of bonuses to employees during the first nine months of the year. The lawsuit was filed in state court in New York.

Despite still being down from peak highs two years ago, hedge funds attracted $150 billion in new assets in the first nine months of this year, according to a quarterly report by Barclays Capital's prime services division.

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.

TD Waterhouse has become the first execution only brokerage firm in the U.K. to offer its investors holding their shares in nominee form the right to receive proxy materials and vote electronically.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced the Fair Fund distribution of approximately $418 million to more than a million investors who were harmed by market timing activities in certain Invesco mutual funds managed by Invesco Funds Group, Inc.

John Hancock Funds announced Monday it has completed the adoption of Fiduciary Management Associates' FMA Small Company Portfolio, and has launched it as the new John Hancock Small Company Fund.

BlackRock Inc. announced in a regulatory filing that it plans to introduce a portfolio to give high-net-worth investors access to difficult-to-obtain hedge funds.

Symetra Life Insurance Company has launched a group variable annuity for the 403(b) and 457 marketplaces, with schools and nonprofits in mind.

Fidelity Investments has helped a record 185 brokers leave wirehouses and join registered investment advisory firms and independent broker-dealers so far in 2009, the company said Monday.

Despite heavy losses in their portfolios, most high-net-worth investors are sticking with their financial advisers, according to the Northstar/Sullivan Rebuilding Investor Trust Survey.

Fund managers are betting that emerging markets will be the best place for growth in 2010, due to their lack of correlation to the rest of the world and its sluggish, forecasted recovery, but lower correlation does not mean greater safety.

American Century Investments is a brand-new player in the international wealth management business-and that novelty could be an ace up its sleeve, according to the company's top executive.

Senate Bill Would Disclose Projected Income of 401(k) Balances

Thirty years after the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed an exemption to help mutual funds pay for promotional sales and marketing expenses, the agency is once again considering revising or renaming these controversial charges, known as 12b-1 fees.

The House passed a regulatory reform bill 223 to 202 on Friday that would significantly reshape the financial framework.

Charles Schwab Investment Management announced Friday that trading has begun in two new exchange-traded funds, with no online trading commissions for Schwab clients and low operating expense ratios.

The majority of high-net-worth investors have stuck with their financial advisers despite heavy losses to their portfolios as a result of the financial crisis that have left them “highly distrustful and disillusioned."

The economy may not have bounced back, but consumer confidence is on the upswing.