CHARLOTTE, N.C. - TradeStreet Investment Associates Inc., NationsBank N.A.'s newest subsidiary, will complete the bank's investment management offerings, offering domestic investment management and serving as subadviser for the domestic portion of the Nations Fund mutual fund family.
Andrew M. Silton, former director of investment strategy for the bank's trust unit, NationsBank Trust and Investment Management, will serve as president of TradeStreet and will manage a team of nearly 75. Mr. Silton has not yet been replaced in the trust unit.
The new subsidiary will open with $30 billion in assets from NationsBank Trust. Those are consultant-driven assets from large institutions that are more competitive and national in scope, said Mr. Silton; he added the bank's trust department will retain another $30 billion in personal trust assets and assets belonging to small regional and local institutions.
The new subsidiary will dovetail with Nations Gartmore Investment Management Co., the joint venture of NationsBank and Gartmore PLC that opened July 1. Nations Gartmore offers international and global investment products, including separate accounts and four global mutual funds.
"The way I look at it is the domestic side of the house catching up with the international side," said Mr. Silton.
TradeStreet will offer a wide range of products in equity, fixed-income and money market classes, said Mr. Silton. In the fixed-income area, it includes a diversified income strategy, a core strategic fund, a short-term product and government fund, among others. In the equity area, products include traditional growth and value equities, an aggressive disciplined equity strategy, a midcapitalization fund and several quantitative management enhanced index products. It also offers a full line of money market funds, municipal products for every state in which NationsBank is franchised, and several national municipal funds.
TradeStreet also will try to expand its mandates to do multiproduct management for large pension sponsors through its client management group, a unit originally created under the trust department. The unit plans to capitalize on the trend among sponsors of consolidating several mandates under one multiproduct manager, said Mr. Silton.
The client management unit includes individuals who have managed money, some who have been consultants and former benefits managers to handle clients with multiple mandates by offering help with asset allocation and setting investment objectives. This is a perfect example where the firm could link with Nations Gartmore if the clients are interested in international diversification, said Mr. Silton.
TradeStreet expects modest growth in its first year, but its goal is to more than double assets by 2000 through internal growth, said Mr. Silton.
The firm will become operational in the first quarter of 1996, but Mr. Silton said the registration progress so well he expects be open for business on the first business day of 1996. The firm received its investment adviser registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission Nov. 14, despite the federal government shutdown.
The firm is more than 90% staffed, said Mr. Silton. He estimated it may hire another three or four people in the next 12 months, including a portfolio manager or two and perhaps business development and operations professionals.
