Brown Bros. branches into Canadian mutual funds.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. has been named investment adviser for three international funds being rolled out by

Toronto-based National TruSt Co.

Brown Brothers, the nation's oldest and largest private bank, will be responsible for selecting investments for the stock funds.

The New York-based bank has a long history of managing equity investments, including those in its own mutual fund family -- the 59 Wall Street Funds.

That experience was a major draw for National Trust, said John Payzant, a senior vice president at the Canadian bank.

Brown Brothers has consistently ranked as one of the top performing equity managers in the United States, Mr. Payzant said. It also has broad research coverage in Europe and Asia, he said.

The new offerings include a commingled trust for Canadian institutional investors. At least 85% of the assets in this fund will be invested in developed foreign markets, with the remainder invested mostly in emerging markets.

Traditionally, mutual funds seldom invested in a mix of developed and emerging country markets, said Henry A. Frantzen, chief investment officer in charge of international equities at Brown Brothers.

Now, though, institutional investors are looking for more diversification, and an integrated investment approach helps provide that, he said.

"Canadian pension plans have demonstrated a growing interest in diversifying their equity investments around the world," Mr. Frantzen said.

Brown Brothers is also advising a couple of mutual funds that will be marketed to individual investors. One of the two retail funds will invest in developing markets, while the other focuses on emerging markets.

The Canadian bank's fund family, known as the National Trust Mutual Funds, already has nine other funds that are being offered through its branch system.

In looking for a company to advise its new offerings, National Trust "canvassed a number of international investment managers," Mr. Payzant said.

"Brown Brothers Harriman came out tops, both in terms of prior investment performance and the service quality they are able to provide us here in Canada in distributing these funds," he said.

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