In Brief: Wash. Trust in R.I. Buys Investment Firm

WESTERLY, R.I. - Washington Trust Bancorp has bought Phoenix Investment Management Co., Rhode Island's largest independent investment advisory firm, for about $15 million of stock.

The deal nearly doubles Washington Trust's assets under management, to about $2 billion, and creates cross-selling opportunities for the bank's trust division, said John C. Warren, chairman and chief executive of Washington Trust. Phoenix, which has about 170 clients, did not previously offer trust services, he said. Providence-based Phoenix is to keep operating under its own name as a division of Washington Trust.

Washington Trust issued more than one million shares for the deal, Mr. Warren said. Its stock closed Monday at $14.75 a share.

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