Deals & People December 4, 2006

First Charter Lets Go of Recordkeeping Unit

First Charter Corporation announced on Monday it has sold Southeastern Employee Benefits Services (SEBS), part of the Wealth Management division of First Charter Bank which provides recordkeeping and administrative functions for retirement plans.
Reported by
At the request of the purchaser, and to respect its wishes, Charlotte, North Carolina-based First Charter would not reveal the purchaser’s identity. However, Kevin Toomb, Executive Vice President, Director of Corporate Communications at First Charter Corporation, told PLANADVISER.com the purchaser is a large, nationally-known, well-respected firm which is not a bank and is not located in North Carolina.

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Toomb also said the purchaser does have a desire to grow business at SEBS. Employees of SEBS, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, were notified of the deal, which closed on Friday, via a meeting with the purchaser, according to Toombs.

In the First Charter announcement, John Allen, Senior Vice President and Director of the Wealth Management division at First Charter, said the firm will continue to use SEBS as the strategic recordkeeping partner for its Wealth Management clients.

The sale of SEBS is expected to result in a pre-tax gain of approximately $0.9 million for First Charter and will be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2006, the announcement said.

The Markets December 4, 2006

Wilmington Trust Adds Fundamentally Weighted Funds to Lineup

Wilmington Trust has announced the addition of two new fundamentally weighted mutual funds to its lineup of domestic equity funds.
Reported by

According to the announcement, the Wilmington Fundamentally Weighted Large Company Fund and Wilmington Fundamentally Weighted Small Company Fund ascribe to an emerging investment approach, often referred to as fundamentally weighted index investing. This approach uses fundamental measures of a company’s size, such as net income, dividends, and free cash flow, to select securities.

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The firm anticipates the Wilmington Fundamentally Weighted Large Company Fund will hold several hundred stocks included in the Russell 1000 Index, while the Wilmington Fundamentally Weighted Small Company Fund will hold stocks included in the Russell 2000 Index.

Fundamental weighting aims to avoid overexposure to overvalued securities and underexposure to undervalued securities, the announcement said.

More information can be found at www.wilmingtontrust.com.

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