Chase Says It's Closing Funds and 2 Asia Offices

Chase Manhattan Corp. said it is liquidating emerging-markets funds and has closed down its Hong Kong- and Japan-based asset management operations.

Chase began liquidating four funds, with $70 million of assets under management, in late January, and it said it expects to finish by May.

The funds being liquidated are the Southeast Asia Equities Fund, Japan's Small Caps Equity Fund, Emerging Markets and Europe Fund, and the Latin American Equity Fund.

A Chase spokeswoman said the move reflected the company's desire "to focus on areas where we can have a leadership position. The funds weren't meeting our targets for growth."

Private-client accounts and separately managed accounts that had been overseen by the Hong Kong and Japan offices will be managed by Chase's London office, the spokeswoman said.

Chase laid off about 10 employees in New York and Hong Kong as a result of the fund closings, she said.

Chase's Brazilian asset management unit, which includes the recently created Chase New Economy Fund, will not be affected.

The spokeswoman said that Chase is working with San Francisco-based Hambrecht and Quist, which Chase bought in December, to investigate options for new funds.

Last year, Chase closed its New York-based U.S. equity fund group and transferred its $10 billion of assets under management to Houston, where the bulk of assets in that category were already managed. The move prompted elimination of 32 jobs.

New York-based Chase has about $230 billion of assets under management.

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