Nationwide buys Gartmore
From The New York Times
Surprise U.S. bidder Nationwide Mutual won the auction for British fund manager Gartmore on Thursday, paying a higher than expected $1.64 billion. Nationwide is seeking to build its position in global asset management. Currently, Gartmore has $85 billion in assets under management. The acquisition will lift Nationwide's 401k/pension group's assets to over $200 billion. Other bidders included British insurer and funds manager CGU Plc, Dutch banking group ABN AMRO, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Unicredito Italiano.

The hits just keep on comin' for Janus
From The Wall Street Journal
Stock mutual funds attracted a record $39.1 billion in net new money in February, an illustration of investors' continuing infatuation with aggressive investing. Janus was the big winner, taking in $10 billion for the month, breaking the record for single month inflows and scoring four times as much as the runner-up. This raises questions about whether the firm can handle the cash. Recently,the company has tilted its style towards large-cap stocks and reduced the frequency of its holdings disclosures.

The price of success
From The Wall Street Journal
Yahoo! has so much invested in other companies that it risks being regulated as a mutual fund. The company has applied to the SEC for an exemption from the tighter investment restrictions that would result. The Investment Company Act of 1940 imposes tighter restrictions on companies whose assets are primarily financial investments. At year end, the Yahoo had $250 million invested in U.S. equities, an increase from $2 million at the end of 1998. The issue could turn on whether the company's investment in Yahoo Japan, valued at $10 billion, is classified as investment or an operating asset.

TIAA-CREF on the move
From Morningstar
TIAA-CREF is adding more funds to its stable, bringing the total number to 11. On deck are three bond funds, the Social Choice Equity fund and the TIAA-CREF Equity Index fund, which will track the Russell 3000 index. The Social Choice portfolio will carry an expense ratio of just 0.27 percent, much lower than the average ratio for social funds of 1.53 percent. 

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