EnvestnetPMC, NetAssetManagement to Merge

In a move highlighting the importance of the Internet for delivering separately managed accounts to investors, EnvestnetPMC Inc. and NetAssetManagement.com Inc., two leading independent providers of separate account services to broker/dealers and independent registered investment advisors, announced that they will merge.

The new firm, to be called EnvestNet Asset Management, will be based in Chicago and specialize in serving up separate accounts, mutual funds, and alternative investments via a Web-based platform. It claims some $11 billion in assets under management or administration. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.

NetAssetManagement has been based in Los Angeles and was founded by Sivagnanam Suresh. It has specialized in Web-based private-label separate account and mutual fund wrap programs for small- to mid-sized B/D firms, and provides due dilgence on outside asset managers, performance monitoring, and mutual fund portfolio asset allocation, among other services. EnvestnetPMC is the result of the 2001 merger of Envestnet Group Inc. and Portfolio Management Consultants Inc. The firm is the major provider of separate account services to RIAs who custody with TDWaterhouse Institutional Services. According to its latest filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, it has about $1 billion under its own management.