IXIS Asset Management Advisors, trying to keep up with growth in separate accounts, has acquired index investment manager Active Index Advisors. The San Francisco-based separate account manager will be known as Active Investment Advisors within IXIS.

"We look to Active Investment Advisors to provide us with greater flexibility in how we construct and manage separate account solutions for our clients," said John Hailer, Chief Executive Officer of IXIS Asset Management Advisors.

IXIS distributes separate accounts through Merrill Lynch, LPL Financial and UBS, among others, said Peter Joyce, IXIS spokesman. Both LPL and UBS were added in 2004, he added.

IXIS officials said the addition of the active indexing approach is "consistent with the parent company’s growth strategy of bringing the best practices of institutional investors to the retail level. Institutions have long relied on indexing to manage their portfolios, as it represents nearly 22% of total institutional assets. Compare this to only 1% in separately managed accounts."

IXIS' growth in separate accounts was 176 percent in 2004, said Joyce, citing a Cerulli report. 

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