State Street Global Advisors will form a Hong Kong-based direct investment firm to take controlling stakes in small, listed Asian companies.
The firm will be called Asian Direct Capital Management and will be headed by Roy Hood, former chief executive of Rothschild Asset Management's Asian operation.
Also, European Direct Capital Management, a Vienna-based start-up 60% owned by SSgA, later this year will seek to raise $200 million for a limited partnership investing in controlling stakes in listed and unlisted securities in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and eventually Russia.
Both firms are part of SSgA Global Alliance, a State Street initiative to create money managers in alternative asset classes.
First Pacific Advisors, Los Angeles, may have to start returning assets to selected separate account clients if cash positions get too large, said Robert Rodriguez, president and chief executive. Cash positions at value investor First Pacific have been climbing for a while because managers are unable to find stocks that fit the firm's absolute value criteria, Mr. Rodriguez said.
Mutual funds managed by First Pacific aren't affected by cash limitations, he said.
Charles Schwab lowered prices on its index funds. Following Fidelity's lead, Schwab added a new share class, the Select Share, to each of its four index funds. Schwab will charge 19 basis points for the S&P 500 fund, 35 basis points for the Schwab 100 Index Fund, 38 basis points for the Small Cap Index Fund and 47 basis points for the International Index Fund.
The program is for investors that invest $50,000 or more. The funds are managed internally by Charles Schwab Investment Management.
