The Markets January 18, 2007

Principal and WM Advisors Debut Combined Mutual Fund Family

The Principal Financial Group introduced to its platform the combination of its mutual funds and the funds of newly-acquired money manager WM Group Advisors.
Reported by

The asset manager announced its plan to acquire WM Advisors in July 2006, and the deal closed at the end of they year.

According to a press release from Principal, the new combined mutual fund family includes 48 funds.

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Ralph Eucher, president, Principal Funds noted the expanded capabilities of the combined fund, which include:

  • Broader distribution including relationships with more than 38,000 independent financial advisors.
  • Increased scale, with approximately $53 billion in mutual fund assets under management.
  • Top-tier performance and rankings of lifecycle and other funds.

WM Advisors’ portfolio management team in Seattle has joined Principal Global Investors, and has been renamed Edge Asset Management, Inc., and will function as a subsidiary of Principal Global Investors. WM Funds Distributor, Inc., and WM Shareholder Services, Inc. have been renamed Principal Funds Distributor, Inc., and Principal Shareholder Services, Inc., and will operate under the name of Principal Funds.

Deals & People January 18, 2007

JPMorgan Hires Musto and Dial Away From Pru and Merrill

JPMorgan Funds has hired David Musto, formerly of Prudential Retirement, as Managing Director of its Retirement and Defined Contribution Investment Only (DC/IO) business and Glenn Dial, formerly of the Princeton Retirement Group, as a Senior Retirement Sales Specialist.
Reported by
According to a press release from JPMorgan, the two hires are part of a plan to increase asset flows to 401(k), individual retirement accounts (IRA) and pension accounts.

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Musto formerly worked in a senior management position at Prudential Retirement and Dial held a national sales manager post at the Princeton Retirement Group, a recordkeeping subsidiary of Merrill Lynch. Prior to that, Dial was Vice President and National Sales Manager for Ceridian Corp.

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