City National Acquires Another Money Management Firm

0

City National Corp., the parent of City National Bank in Beverly Hills, is continuing its strategy of acquiring money managers with the purchase of Independence Investment LLC, from Manulife Financial Corp.


The deal for the Boston-based money manager was called “a natural fit” by Joe Morford, a bank analyst at RBC Capital Markets in San Francisco, who said in a research report it could boost the firm’s fee income to 28 percent of total revenues, up from 25 percent.


Morford also maintained his “outperform” rating on City National and increased his price target on the stock to $84 a share. Shares of City National traded up slightly to $76.78 a share last Thursday.


The acquisition of Independence for an undisclosed sum which manages $7.5 billion in U.S. equities on behalf of large institutional clients, will boost City National’s assets under management to nearly $27 billion. That excludes another $7 billion under management by companies in which City National holds minority interests.


Independence will be the largest asset manager affiliated with City National. The company acquired Convergent Capital Management in 2003, and Reed, Conner, & Birdwell in 2000, as part of a strategy to grow its institutional market.


The all-cash transaction is expected to close in the second quarter and be “modestly” accretive to the company’s 2006 earnings.



Canadian Cable Deal


Burbank-based TVN Entertainment Corp. will provide video-on-demand fare for the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, the company announced last week.


The multi-year, umbrella deal covers the 94-member CCSA system, which provide cable service to almost 1 million Canadian households. CCSA member cable providers launching video on-demand will be able to choose from 3,000 hours of TVN content each month.


Under the deal, TVN will provide a range of on-demand programming, including new studio releases, older titles, and family and kids content. Financial terms of the multi-year agreement were not disclosed.


TVN already provides on-demand content for cable operators including Adelphia, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast and Cox.



Attorneys for Hire


Susman Godfrey LLP joined the ranks last week of law firms paying their first-year Los Angeles law associates $145,000.


In addition to benefits, bar exam fees and moving expenses, the package includes at least $15,000 in bonus money.


The rush for more associate pay started in September when Irell & Manella LLP bumped its first year salary up to $140,000, which triggered similar increases at the city’s major firms. Quinn Emanuel Oliver Urquhart & Hedges LLP upped the ante to $145,000 in March.


Susman Godfrey is a litigation boutique with other offices in Houston, Dallas and Seattle. Associates at the other three offices start at $140,000. There are about 75 lawyers firm-wide.



L.A. County Poverty


Nearly four in 10 L.A. County residents are poor enough to qualify for government anti-poverty assistance, according to a study released last week from the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.


The study cited 2004 U.S. Census data that found 3.9 million people in L.A. County with incomes under $75,000 (for a family of four) who qualify for some level of government assistance.


The study pointed to a further “shredding of the social safety net,” citing figures from a variety of sources that indicate about 2.1 million non-elderly adults and children lack health insurance. Also, the study found about half of all L.A.-area employers offer any type of health coverage for their workers.


The alliance released what it called its “poverty brief” as a precursor to a more in-depth report in coming weeks that will lay out strategies for reducing urban poverty.



Co-Founder Steps Down


Alan C. Draper, co-founder and executive vice-president of the Rancho Dominguez-based global logistics company UTi Worldwide, is retiring, effective June 30.


He has been with the company and its predecessor entities for 27 years.


“My decision to retire was not an easy one and comes with deeply mixed emotions,” Draper said. “I will greatly miss the day-to-day interaction with colleagues and friends throughout the UTi organization, but I look forward to the next stage of our relationship.”


Draper, 53, also currently oversees the company’s Asian Pacific region. He will relinquish his board seat, but plans to serve the company as consultant.



Kate Berry, Emily Bryson York, Howard Fine, Anne Riley-Katz

No posts to display