Sound Capital Partners, Seattle, a fledgling money management boutique founded by six former BankAmerica Corp. professionals, got an injection of capital from a Chicago company this month.
Burridge Group, an affiliate of Affiliated Managers Group Inc., Boston, took a majority stake in the institutional money manager, said Robert L. Wiley 3d, a managing director with Sound Capital. Terms were not disclosed, but Mr. Wiley said Sound Capital's principals retain equity in the firm.
With nine employees, Sound Capital consists of roughly half the staff BankAmerica maintained in Seattle that focused on stocks of large diversified-growth companies. BankAmerica closed the 20-person office in May, saying it duplicated efforts of its offices in Chicago and San Francisco.
The six portfolio managers at Sound Capital came away from BankAmerica with $200 million under management, the bulk of which is managed for the banking company's own pension plan, said Mr. Wiley. Sound Capital is also acting as a subadviser to a BankAmerica account, he said.
The six managers are Mr. Wiley, Gary R. Bech, Carol L. Beers, Rafael A. Villagran, James R. Simone, and Robert B. Pyles, who is chief investment officer and had headed the BankAmerica group, Mr. Wiley said. They had a combined 90 years of experience at BankAmerica, he said.
While part of BankAmerica, the office managed roughly $5 billion of assets, some of which is managed out of Chicago under Jim Miller, an executive vice president and chief investment officer, a bank spokeswoman said.
BankAmerica maintains a private investment group in the Northwest. Headed by chief investment officer Don Reiter, it manages accounts for high-net-worth people, the spokeswoman said.
Sound Capital will operate as a division of Burridge, which itself manages $1.4 billion in mid-cap growth equity.
Sound Capital will market its track record in large-cap diversified growth to the institutional community, Mr. Wiley said. However, he also noted that John H. Streur Jr., Burridge's chief executive officer, has indicated Sound Capital might open a retail fund family within a year. Mr. Streur did not return a reporter's telephone calls.
