Nuveen Completes FAF Advisors Purchase

If Nuveen Asset Management's New Year's resolution was to be bigger and better, the Chicago-based boutique investment affiliate of Nuveen Investments moved toward that goal on December 31 by completing its acquisition of the Minneapolis-based FAF Advisors family of mutual funds. FAF Advisors was the asset-management business of USB, which retained FAF's money market funds. The result is the addition of FAF's $25 billion in assets under management-the company also served as advisor to 41 First American Funds-to Nuveen's $75 billion in municipal fixed-income assets. The combination will enable Nuveen to manage assets across municipal bonds, taxable fixed income, real estate and traditional and specialized equities

Bill Huffman, president of Nuveen Asset Management, commented that the alliance marked "an important step in the strategic growth of our Nuveen Asset Management team within the Nuveen Investments family"-a family whose newest member brings critical mass in the taxable fixed-income space. Nuveen already enjoyed a 112-year history as a muni shop and a leading tax-exempt fixed income investing specialist. With FAF in the mix-FAF will remain in Minneapolis while the resulting entity will retain the Nuveen Asset Management name-Nuveen can offer clients a more complete set of investment strategies, including taxable fixed income, along with traditional equities, asset allocation and specialized equities. Nuveen now manages more than $100 billion for institutional, high-net-worth and affluent investors.

Leading Nuveen's fixed-income capabilities will be Nuveen's John Miller and FAF Advisors' Tony Rodriguez, who together will serve as co-heads of Global Fixed Income and oversee the company's $90 billion global fixed-income investment platform. Miller will continue to lead the municipal fixed-income teams and manage the High Yield Municipal Bond Fund. Under Rodriguez, the taxable fixed-income team will continue to manage a range of strategies, including short duration, intermediate, core, high yield and total return.

FAF Advisors also brings its real assets team, broadening and deepening Nuveen's specialized equities investment platform, according to Nuveen. The REIT effort will be led by John Wenker, a 19-year FAF Advisors veteran. Leading Nuveen's equity team and quantitative/asset allocation team will be FAF Advisors' David Chalupnik and Keith Hembre, respectively.

Nuveen says it has shuffled portfolio management assignments as part of the process of integrating FAF Advisors into the portfolio management team and during the transition of First American Funds to Nuveen Asset Management.

In other news ...

The top 50 CEOs delivered an average total shareholder return of 73.3% since June 2007, according to a new study published by Chief Executive magazine and calculated by Applied Finance Group. That performance beats the 14.9% average of the S&P 500 during the same period. Priceline CEO Jeff Boyd was the number one value creator based on the success he has had with his online travel services. The number two spot went to Daniel P. Amos, CEO of Aflac, with CEOs J. Christopher Donahue of Federated Investors, Steven P. Jobs of Apple, and Jeffrey P. Bezos of Amazon.com ranked three, four, and five. Financial and health care companies have become the worst-performing sectors over the last 12 months, according to the study. For further information go to chiefexecutive.net/wealthcreators.

Despite record declines in charitable donations nationwide, a new survey by National Philanthropic Trust reveals new trends and a change in giving tools. According to the 2010 Donor-Advised Fund Report, the number of donor-advised fund accounts continued to grow in 2009 (up 3%) and continues to surpass the number of other long-established charitable giving vehicles such as private foundations by a margin of two to one. The report also shows that the total value of grants from donor-advised funds exceeded the total value of contributions into donor-advised funds. For information about the report and NPT go to www.nptrust.org.

Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange and the PURE Group of Insurance Companies, a member-owned reciprocal insurer that offers comprehensive property and casualty insurance coverage to owners of high-value homes, has been affirmed by A.M. Best Company the Financial Strength Rating of "A-" (Excellent) and the Issuer Credit Rating of "A-" (Excellent). PURE, which began writing policies in 2007, currently serves more than 8,500 members in 13 states.

When it comes to 2011 bonus payouts, salary merit increases and hiring, "cautious optimism" are words to live by, according to a survey conducted in November and December by Empsight International LLC of 142 Fortune 500 and large multinational corporations. The survey forecasts that 78% of companies expect to pay annual cash bonuses at the same or higher levels than last year, with 27%, at the executive level, expecting payouts somewhat or significantly higher. For further information go to www.empsight.com/spotsurveyresults.

Robeco-Sage is offering investors simplified tax reporting by eliminating K-1 reporting in favor of Form 1099 reporting. Towards this end the firm converted its SEC-registered Multi-Strategy Fund LLC tax reporting to a Form 1099 effective December 1. Robeco-Sage says it is now one of only a few fund-of-hedge funds managers to make 1099 reporting available to its investors. For more information go to www.robecoinvest.com.

Sanders Morris Harris Group Inc., a wealth/asset management company that manages about $16.1 billion in client assets, has completed its previously announced purchase of a 50.1% interest in Global Financial Services LLC, a registered broker-dealer with an investment advisory arm that manages about $4 billion of client assets. Both companies are headquartered in Houston. The transaction increases Sanders Morris Harris's client assets to about $16.1 billion.

BMO Financial Group and Marshall & Ilsley Corporation have entered into an agreement under which BMO will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of M&I in a stock-for-stock transaction. Private Client Group is a wealth management business under Canada-based BMO's corporate umbrella. Marshall & Ilsley, headquartered in Milwaukee, provides trust and investment management and other financial services. The transaction is expected to close prior to July 31.

U.S. investors have shown an increasing appetite for IPOs through the final quarter of 2010, as activity in the U.S. IPO market has already surpassed 2008 and 2009 levels, according to PwC's US IPO Watch, a quarterly and annual analysis by the firm of IPOs on U.S. stock exchanges. U.S. IPO market volume jumped over 100% in 2010. Financial sponsor-backed offerings continue to drive IPO volume and, led by China, non-U.S. issuers contributed 49% of quarterly IPO activity, according to the report. For further information go to www.pwc.com/us/ipo.

Generational Equity, an advisor to privately held and family-owned businesses for mergers, acquisitions, strategic growth initiatives, business valuation and exit planning, has announced the acquisition of its client, Cornerstone Appraisal Services LLC of Valparaiso, Ind., by CIS-Cornerstone Holdings LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIS Group LLC of North Richland Hills, Texas.  Cornerstone's interests include the high-value and older-home niche, while CIS Group provides intelligence for P&C insurance carriers, mortgage servicers and asset management firms.

Royal Bank of Canada has acquired BlueBay Asset Management, bringing over 200 employees and about $40 billion in assets under management to RBC's Global Asset Management business. RBC Global Asset Management is part of RBC Wealth Management, which directly serves affluent and high-net-worth clients in Canada, the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Events

The National Eagles and Angels Association, a nationwide for-profit alliance of qualified individual investors and business angels, will make its national debut at the first official meeting of its New York City chapter on January 11 at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. For membership information about NEAA and the luncheon event, call Lauren at 1-888-465-6322.

Needham & Company's 13th Annual Growth Conference, a forum for institutional investors and venture capitalists, will be held in New York City on January 11 to 13. For information go to www.needhamco.com or call 212-371-8300.

CCG Investor Relations, a global investor relations and strategic communications agency, will be holding its second China IPO Boot Camp in Shanghai on March 9, at the newly opened hotel, The Langham, Xintiandi, Shanghai. For more event details visit www.ccgirasia.com/events.

Tiburon CEO Summit XX will be held April 13 to 14 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York City. Tiburon's CEO Summits provide a forum for a select cross-industry group of senior executives to discuss a broad range of issues regarding the future of the banking, brokerage, investments, insurance, advice, and wealth management businesses. For information regarding the upcoming conference and/or past presentations call 415-789-2540.

The 14th Annual Women Presidents' Organization Conference will be held on April 27 to 29 at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. The WPO is a peer advisory organization connecting women who own multi-million-dollar companies. For further information contact the WPO at 212-688-4114 or go to www.womenpresidentsorg.com.

On The Move

Mercer Investment Consulting Inc., a global provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment services, has acquired Hammond Associates, a St. Louis-based institutional fund consultant with a focus on endowment and foundation clients.

The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association of Amherst, Mass., has selected Florence Lombard as the association's next CEO. Lombard, founding member and former CEO of the Alternative Investment Management Association, replaced E. Craig Asche. The CAIA Association, founded in 2002 and the sponsoring body for the CAIA designation, is a not-for-profit global organization committed to education and professionalism in the field of alternative investments.

The Broadsmoore Group, an investment advisory and merchant banking firm founded in 2009 and based in New York City, has appointed 22-year Wall Street veteran Gil Sacher as president. Previously, Sacher was a managing director at NewOak Capital, where he headed the firm's high-net-worth and Family Office coverage. Before that he spent 15 years at Lehman Brothers in the Investment Management Division.

Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust, a boutique financial firm in Greenwich, Conn., has recruited as partners H. Frazier Caner and Samuel A. Gilliland, Jr., who together managed more than $200 million at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and will help grow Fieldpoint's wealth management business; and David B. Rosenthal, who advised on $800 million of institutional assets at Morgan Stanley Graystone Consulting and will lead Fieldpoint's institutional advisory team.

WTP Advisors of White Plains, N.Y., has acquired Sala Associates LLC, a provider of operations consulting for hedge funds and investment banks. Sala Associates will become WTP Capital Markets. Louis J. Sala, principal and founder of Sala Associates, has assumed the position of CEO of WTP Capital Markets.

Carolyn F. Bell, former vice president at Stanford Investment Group Inc., an independent investment advisor and broker-dealer that provides wealth and portfolio management services, retired from the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm at the end of 2010. Bell joined Stanford in 1998.

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, founded in 1890, has completed its merger with Hammonds LLP, resulting in a global legal practice of about 1,275 lawyers working in 37 offices throughout the world. Squire Sanders will be among the top 25 legal practices based on The American Lawyer's "2010 Global 100" and among the 15 largest U.S.-based legal practices based on The National Law Journal's "NLJ 250." The practice will be known as Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in most markets around the globe and as Squire Sanders Hammonds in nine legacy Hammonds markets.

Mariner Wealth Advisors, a wealth management firm based in Leawood, Kans., has acquired the individual wealth management firm formerly associated with CBIZ Inc. and known as CBIZ Wealth Management, which is based in Cleveland. The combined number of wealth advisors at Mariner is now 270. They manage about $8 billion in client assets.

Barclays Wealth has hired seven registered reps in its Boston, New York, Chicago and Atlanta offices, bringing the total number of reps hired in 2010 to 50. Joining in Boston are James Egan, Michael Reiser and Ria Hart. George Kolodka is in New York, Jamie Weeks III and Hunter Hamm are in Atlanta and Michael D. Schwartz is in Chicago.

Warren A. Reintzel, director of relationship management and administration at Glenmede Investment Management, has retired after 25 years of service. Susan P. Mucciarone, former executive vice president and senior managing director of Wells Fargo's east coast family wealth business, has recently joined Glenmede as director of wealth services.

-Cort Smith