In Brief: U.S. Trust to Buy Asset Manager N.C. Trust

U.S. Trust Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to buy North Carolina Trust Co., which manages $2.5 billion of assets for wealthy clients.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Its value is between $50 million and $75 million, said Thomas Courtney, president of Courtney Group Inc., a New York investment bank.

North Carolina Trust, with offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, would give U.S. Trust a presence in an affluent area between its Washington and Florida locations.

The bank did not want to start from scratch there, said vice chairman Maribeth S. Rahe.

North Carolina Trust's accounts typically exceed $3 million. It sought a buyer with "product breadth and depth that we couldn't provide as a small company," said Stephen C. Hassenfelt, chairman and chief executive officer.

U.S. Trust manages more than $79 billion of assets.

Berkshire Capital Corp. of New York advised North Carolina Trust.

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