MassMutual To Buy Offshoot Of Historic Merchant Bank

Of the 2 acquiring firms, only MassMutual will have the rights to the widely recognized Baring Asset Management name, O'Connell says.

"We insisted we get it, and we get the right to use it in other business as well," O'Connell says.

O'Connell says MassMutual's international strategy is similar to the one it has used to build a domestic portfolio–using acquisitions that complement its main businesses.

"We're certainly interested in Asia, particularly Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and possibly Australia," he says. "But we would only go in if we could buy a good solid company that's already there."

BAM has about 600 employees globally. They will continue to work for the company after the acquisition. David Brennan, chairman of Baring Asset Management, and other top executives will retain their positions, O'Connell says.

O'Connell says he expects to complete the deal by March 31, 2005.

Northern Trust, a multibank holding company, said it will pay about $480 million for Baring's financial services group, which sells fund administration and trust services.