Piper Capital Management will be merged into First Asset Management when U.S. Bancorp's acquisition of Piper Jaffray Cos. is completed in the second quarter of 1998.
The combined firm, to be called First American Asset Management, will have $68.7 billion under management. Details about how the firms will be integrated are not yet available, said U.S. Bancorp spokesman Dave Walsh.
Piper Capital has $12.7 billion in assets under management, most of which are in mutual funds. Piper Capital CIO Paul Dow is expected to stay on with the merged firm.
First Asset, owned by U.S. Bancorp, has about $56 billion in assets under management, also mostly in mutual funds.
State Universities Retirement System of Illinois, Champaign, will increase the emerging markets assignment of Martin Currie, an existing manager, by $50 million, said John R. Krimmel, associate investment officer for the $8.8 billion pension fund. The move will boost the manager's total to $326 million. Ennis Knupp assisted.
Charles Schwab is developing a referral network of regional third-party administrators. The company is performing due diligence initially on TPAs in four regions in the U.S., and hopes to begin referring clients to its preferred list in a few months. Schwab eventually will expand the service to 14 regions. Most 401(k) plans using the referral program will use the TPA for record keeping for mutual funds from Schwab's OneSource mutual fund supermarket.
Skyline Asset Management opened a new no-load fund, the Skyline Small Cap Contrarian Fund. The portfolio manager is Daren Heitman, who will focus on finding small-cap companies trading at substantial discounts to their long-term potential. The fund is value-oriented.
