U.S. Trust Corp. is rolling along with its expansion plans -having acquired two asset managers over the last month.
The acquisitions give U.S. Trust opportunities to strengthen its market positions in New York and in California, two of the nation's wealthiest states.
Principals of Lilienthal Associates and Florence Fearrington Inc. confirmed that their companies had been sold to units of the New York-based banking company.
The prices of the deals and the firms' asset sizes were not disclosed. However, Lilienthal manages $230 million, according to a letter U.S. Trust filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Nov. 7. Fearrington reportedly manages $400 million.
John G. Lilienthal said his San Francisco-based company was bought Dec. 31 by United States Trust Company of California, which has offices in Los Angeles and Costa Mesa.
Florence Fearrington said United States Trust Company of New York acquired the assets of her New York-based firm, but would not comment further.
"Lilienthal is part of our strategy of expanding into attractive, new, affluent markets where we hadn't previously had a presence," a U.S. Trust spokeswoman said. Acquiring Fearrington will deepen U.S. Trust's established roots in New York, she added.
However, the spokeswoman would not discuss the terms of the deals, saying they had no material financial effect on the company and thus were exempt from disclosure rules. Neither Mr. Lilienthal nor Ms. Fearrington would disclose a price.
The Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly traded companies to disclose terms of acquisitions that exceed 10% of their total assets. U.S. Trust had $3.5 billion in book assets and managed $53.3 billion in client assets at yearend.
The deals are similar in spirit to the bank's 1995 purchase of individual and trust accounts, with $800 million of assets under management, from J. & W. Seligman and Co.. The price of the deal was $20 million.
