CHICAGO -- Five senior managers of Chicago Equity Partners Corp. are buying their company from Bank of America N.A., Los Angeles.
Terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close by April 30, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.
The two parties reached agreement on a deal March 9 that permits the Chicago Equity Partners team to buy the company outright and share ownership equally. The five new owners are James D. Miller, president and chief investment officer, and David C. Coughenour, David R. Johnsen, Robert H. Kramer and Patrick C. Lynch, managing directors.
Mr. Lynch will be in charge of marketing, sales, client service and administration; the other partners are portfolio managers.
The other 38 staffers will remain. In fact, other than finding new offices in downtown Chicago, no further changes are planned.
Chicago Equity Partners manages about $7 billion. It will continue as subadviser to two BofA funds -- the $919 million Nation's Blue-Chip Fund and the 60% equity portion of the $411 million Nation's Asset Allocation Fund.
Some of Chicago Equity Partner's strategies are approaching their three-year track record, such as large-cap growth, and interest from pension funds apparently is high: The firm is in 25 searches, Mr. Lynch said.
For Bank of America Capital Management, shedding Chicago Equity Partners was part of a restructuring, said Michael Kenneally, CIO of both the asset management group and the capital management group and president of the latter.
