Nov. 25, 2002 — Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) signed a definitive agreement to acquire parts of the institutional and retail investment management business of Montgomery Asset Management LLC, adviser to the Montgomery funds.
San Francisco-based Montgomery, started as a no-load mutual-fund family, manages $5.7 billion in assets for institutional clients and individual investors. The business lines that Wells Fargo will acquire had $4.9 billion in assets under management as of August 31. Wells Fargo markets its mutual funds through intermediaries.
According to press reports last week from Reuters and Dow Jones, roughly two-thirds of the assets that Wells Fargo will acquire from Montgomery represent institutional investments, and about a third were investments in retail mutual funds. The press reports also indicated that Wells Fargo will acquire Montgomery's fixed-income, small-cap growth and emerging-market equities investment lines, but excluded some of their global funds.
Specifically, the firm would receive Montgomery Short Duration Govt Bond Fund/R (MNSGX), Montgomery Total Return Bond Fund/R (MNTRX), Montgomery Small Cap Fund/P (MNSPX) Montgomery Mid Cap Fund/R (MNMCX), Montgomery Growth Fund/P (MGRPX), Montgomery International Growth Fund/P (MIGPX), Montgomery Inst Srs Internatl Growth Port (MIIGX), Montgomery Global Tech Telecom & Media Fund/R (MNGCX), Montgomery Emerging Markets Fund/R (MNEMX), Montgomery Emerging Markets Focus Fund/R (MNEFX), Montgomery Inst Srs Emerging Markets Port (MIEMX) and Montgomery Government Money Market Fund/R (MNGXX).
Moreover, there will be continuity in the management of the Montgomery fund assets as about 25% of the firm's 135 employees, mostly members of its portfolio management teams, will have positions at Wells Fargo.
