A company from across the Atlantic just bought two mutual fund-focused trade publication publications and two of their non-mutual fund siblings.

MFWire has learned that London-based Pageant Media just acquired Fund Director Intelligence and Fund Industry Intelligence, along with Compliance Intelligence and Real Estate Finance Intelligence, from New York City-based Institutional Investor. II is a subsidiary of another London-based company, Euromoney.

For FII, a weekly newsletter and news website for the mutual fund industry, its editorial staff included managing editor Mike Schnitzel, senior reporter Nick Jardine, senior reporter Dervedia Thomas and senior reporter Greg Iacurci. FII incorporates several old II newsletters, including Fund Action, Defined Contribution News, Fund Marketing Alert, and Defined Contribution and Savings Plan Alert. Hillary Jackson has served as managing director of FDI, a monthly and online newsletter for mutual funds' boards of trustees.

CI's masthead lists managing editor Ben Maiden and reporter Peter Rawlings. And REFI's masthead lists managing editor Samantha Rowan.

An executive with Pageant confirms that this week "all of the editorial staff [of the four newsletters] moved across." That executive says that this week ten editorial employees of the four newsletters moved from II's New York City offices just north of Union Square to Pageant's New York City offices just south of Bryant Park.

Yet II is not selling the entirety of "II Intelligence" unit. In a memo to his team, Institutional Investor CEO David Antin stated that "iiSEARCHES, Money Management Intelligence and Foundation & Endowment Intelligence ... will be retained [by Institutional Investor] and will serve as the base of an increased focus on plan sponsors and end investors through Project Athena, which is in development currently."

The Pageant executive tells MFWire that leadership at Pageant intends to keep all four acquired brands and publications intact, while bringing them into the "membership organization" structure of Pageant's other offerings. The idea, that exec says, is to "memberfy" the newly acquired newsletters with events, training courses, workshops and the like, as well as news.

This is not Pageant's first deal with II. Four years ago Pageant bought II's Private Asset Management, and a year later Pageant bought Wall Street Letter.

Pageant's biggest brand, the executive says, is HFM Brand Week, offering hedge fund intelligence. The bulk of the 16-year-old firm's 100-plus people are based in London, yet they're "looking to sort of ramp up in the U.S."

"We're looking for opportunities in the U.S. and the U.K. ... for niche brands," that Pageant exec says. 

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