Mellon Unit Hires Prudential Exec to Be Its CEO

Founders Asset Management, the Denver mutual fund unit of Mellon Bank Corp., named a new top executive Tuesday.

Richard W. Sabo, 40, will join the firm Dec. 7 as president and chief executive officer, a spokeswoman said. Founders manages $6.8 billion of assets.

Mr. Sabo, who was hired from Prudential Securities in New York, is succeeding Jonathan F. Zeschin, who left Founders in July, shortly after Pittsburgh-based Mellon bought the growth-style manager for $275 million.

Mr. Sabo was a senior vice president and regional director at Prudential, where he was responsible for overseeing sales of the brokerage's proprietary mutual funds, as well as third-party portfolios, the Founders spokeswoman said. He oversaw 11 branch offices in the Northeast, 850 branch employees, and $20 billion of assets.

Commenting on his appointment, the spokeswoman said, "We're delighted. He's familiar with mutual funds and is a strong leader."

Mr. Sabo's hiring came on the heels of the hirings of Thomas M. Arrington and Scott A. Chapman to manage the company's flagship portfolio, the $2.1 billion-asset Founders Growth Fund. Mr. Arrington and Mr. Chapman, both of Unionbancal, also are to join Founders Dec. 7. The growth fund had been managed by Edward F. Keely, who left the company last summer.

Separately, Mellon's other fund unit, Dreyfus Corp., unveiled a family of offshore mutual funds Monday.

The fund family, to be called Dreyfus Global Funds PLC, is registered in Dublin and designed to offer products for several international distribution ventures formed this year by Dreyfus, said Ronald P. O'Hanley, president of Dreyfus Institutional Investors.

The lineup consists of four currency portfolios, which Mr. O'Hanley said will meet "immediate demand." However, he said, Dreyfus will probably add 10 funds, consisting of both fixed-income and equity portfolios, by mid- 1999.

Mr. O'Hanley said the new offshore funds would complement those of Newton Management Ltd., the London asset manager in which Mellon owns a 75% stake. Newton has offshore funds registered in Jersey in the Channel Islands, he said.

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