Banks contributed to the first-half merger and acquisition frenzy in the money management industry, a survey shows.
The number of acquisitions and joint ventures in the sector climbed to a record 52 - including eight involving banks - from 37 in first-half 1994, according to Investment Counseling Inc., an investment management consultancy.
"Commercial banks and bank trust companies continue to be important buyers of money management companies," the West Conshohocken, Pa., firm said in a report.
Last year banks were involved in 17 such transactions, against 12 in 1993 and only three in 1992.
Among the eight recent bank deals is Northern Trust Corp.'s May acquisition of RCB International, an investment administrator and trustee for institutional clients.
Then there are deals like the one between First of America Bank Corp. and Gulfstream Global Investors. The Kalamazoo, Mich., bank bought a 49% stake in the Houston-based money management firm.
Finally, there are banks acquisitions of other banks where the money management operations are significant. One example is the planned acquisition of Fleet Financial group of Shawmut National Corp.
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Chase Manhattan Bank has hired another senior executive to the investment management arm of its global private bank.
Fabio P. Savoldelli was brought in as chief investment officer of the Americas region of Chase Asset Management, the investment management arm of Chase's private bank. He will be responsible for investment strategy in the United States and Latin America.
Mr. Savoldelli came to Chase from a subsidiary of Swiss Bank Corp., where he was deputy chief investment officer and director of fixed income.
His hiring follows the recent arrival of Susan Shun-Ming Huang as head of U.S. fixed-income strategy at the Chase investment unit.
Mr. Savoldelli and Ms. Huang are on a seven-member investment team formed at the end of last year to oversee investment strategy for the asset management unit, said a Chase spokesman.
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A new on-line service is designed to link wealthy investors and the investment pros who want to reach them.
The Institute for Private Investors, a Summit, N.J., consulting group for affluent investors, has recently placed several features of its Memberlink electronic bulletin board on the Internet.
Those armed with a modem and the right Internet address can tap into a variety of institute offerings, including on-line archives of media excerpts and investment research studies.
But many other features of Memberlink, created by the institute in 1993, will not be available to nonmembers. One such item is a proprietary data base that provides information on over 200 investment advisers, said Sue Osborn, a vice president and principal of the group.
The institute has a membership of 230 private investors and 100 investment advisers, some of which are banks. Currently, 60% of the membership oversees $50 million or more.
