City National Corp. on Wednesday completed its acquisition of Independence Investment LLC, a 24-year-old investment firm that manages approximately $8 billion of U.S. equities on behalf of institutional clients.

Independence Investment was the investment manager from Manulife Financial Corporation. Terms were not disclosed, but City National, the parent of City National Bank, expects the acquisition to be modestly accretive to earnings in 2006.

The addition of Independence is expected to bring City National’s assets under management to more than $27 billion and its assets under management or administration to more than $48 billion, on a pro-forma basis. These totals are as of March 31, the company said and do not include $9 billion of assets under management by firms in which City National holds minority interests.

Independence will continue to be headed by Mark Lapman, its president and chief executive officer. The firm, which is based in Boston, will become an affiliate of Convergent Capital Management LLC, the Chicago-based asset management holding company that City National acquired in 2003.