One Valley of W.Va. Buying Insurance Agency
One Valley Bancorp of Charleston, W.Va., has agreed to acquire Carson Insurance Agency.One Valley will pay cash and stock for the agency, which is also in Charleston. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in mid-January, were not disclosed. Beginning in the second quarter, One Valley will offer property and casualty insurance to its commercial customers by referring them to Carson agents, said Laurance G. Jones, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the $6.4 billion-asset bank holding company.
The company plans to eventually integrate group life insurance into its trust department offerings and sell property and casualty insurance in its branches, Mr. Jones said.
The company now sells term life insurance and credit protection policies through its subsidiary One Valley Insurance Corp. That unit, which is based in Barrackville, W. Va., will be folded into Carson in the second quarter, Mr. Jones said.
One Valley Insurance's revenues for 1999 will total about $140,000 to $150,000, Mr. Jones said. Carson's revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1999, were over $5.4 million.
- Amy L. Anderson
ABN Amro Unit Signs Subadvisers for Two Funds
ABN Amro Asset Management (USA) Inc., the Chicago-based investment arm of ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam, last week announced subadvisory agreements for two of its mutual funds.Mellon Equity Associates, a unit of Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial Corp., will manage Amro's Value Fund, which had $151 million of assets on Sept. 30. Philadelphia-based Delaware Investments will manage the Small Cap Fund, which had $44 million of assets on Sept. 30.
ABN Amro Asset Management manages more than $8 billion of assets in the United States, including $3.5 billion in the ABN Amro Funds. ABN Amro Bank has over $104 billion of assets under management worldwide.
Pa. Bank's Brokerage Unit to Host Trust Office
First Financial Bank of Downingtown, Pa., plans to open a trust office this month on the premises of its brokerage affiliate, Philadelphia Corporation for Investment Services.First Financial and Philadelphia Corp. are subsidiaries of $473 million-asset Chester Valley Bancorp.
"This gives us the opportunity as a bank to interact more with the brokerage for referrals," said Anthony J. Biondi, president and chief operating officer of First Financial and president of Chester Valley.
Bank executives had considered adding Philadelphia Corp. brokers to its eight bank branches, Mr. Biondi said, but the brokerage's clients tend to have a higher net worth than the bank's trust clients. The typical Philadelphia Corp. client has a net worth of over $1 million, he said, while the trust's clients generally have a net worth in the $250,000 to $1 million range, he said.
The bank has hired a trust officer, who will work three days a week in Philadelphia Corp's Philadelphia office.
- Amy L. Anderson
Northern Trust Unit to Subadvise Tech Fund
NT Global Advisors Inc., the Canadian investment arm of Northern Trust Corp., has been named subadviser of a new technology portfolio from ClaringtonFunds Inc.The Clarington Technology Fund will be offered to retail investors in Canada, Northern Trust said. It will invest in companies that develop or sell computers, software, or other products that are expected to outperform the market over the next one or two years. Northern Trust manages more than $262 billion of assets globally. Toronto-based ClaringtonFunds has a family of 18 load funds sold by financial planners and brokers in Canada. It has more than $670 million of assets.
Separately, Northern Trust said it is opening a mid-cap growth portfolio to institutional investors in the United States. It offers 20 other no-load funds to institutions.
