Deutsche Revamps Management Unit

Deutsche Bank has reorganized its asset management business in the Americas after its recent purchase of Bankers Trust Corp.

Deutsche Asset Management-Americas combines the active investment management groups of Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Grenfell, which Deutsche Bank bought in 1989.

The unit manages $97.3 billion of assets, mostly in the United States.

That includes $55.5 billion managed for institutions, $40.1 billion of mutual fund assets, and $1.4 billion of offshore funds, the $854 billion- asset Frankfurt bank said in a letter sent to clients last week.

Rich Marin, 45, who headed global private banking at Bankers Trust, was named to lead the restructured unit, which has more than 100 investment management employees in the United States and roughly another 210 worldwide.

"Investment management will be an important contributor to our overall business in the Americas," he said through a spokeswoman.

Deutsche Asset Management-Americas is a unit of Deutsche Asset Management, which actively manages $256 billion of assets in the Americas, the United Kingdom, and Asia. Deutsche Bank manages $670 billion of assets worldwide, using both active and index strategies.

Deutsche Asset Management-Americas brings together the sales, marketing, and distribution of the banking company's four mutual fund families-the BT Family of Funds, the Flag Funds, the Morgan Grenfell Funds, and the Deutsche Funds.

The spokeswoman said she did not know whether the fund families would be combined. "Right now there's just a whole host of issues they are working on," she said.

W. Christopher Maxwell, principal of Maxwell Associates in Rockhall, Md., said he would expect several funds to be merged to eliminate duplication.

But Deutsche Bank must consider similarities in pricing, investing objectives, returns, and investor sentiment, he said.

None of these groups has really big name recognition, so Deutsche Bank may want to rethink its branding strategy, said Russ Kinnel, who edits Morningstar.com, the Web unit of Chicago-based Morningstar Inc.

"You probably wouldn't pick Deutsche if you wanted to sell a lot in the U.S.," he said.

Deutsche Bank also appointed the following executives to the restructured asset management unit:

Josh Weinreich, 39, chief investment officer and deputy head of Deutsche Asset Management-Americas.

He was chief investment officer for Bankers Trust Private Bank.

Christopher Thorsheim, 35, head of institutional marketing. He ran U.S. institutional sales for Morgan Grenfell.

Ross Youngman, 38, heads retail mutual funds. He had been in charge of marketing the international fund business at Bankers Trust.

Brian Lee, 50, heads the Latin America and offshore mutual funds arm. He ran the Deutsche Funds in the United States.

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