FleetBoston Financial Corp., the seventh largest U.S. bank, completed its $1 billion acquisition of Liberty Financial Cos.’ investment business, increasing assets under management by more than a third and adding staff to sell funds through brokerage firms.
New England’s largest bank said the transaction adds $47 billion in managed assets for a total of about $170 billion. Wealthy individuals hold 39 percent and institutional investors own 27 percent. The rest is in mutual funds.
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“This is a market where we think we can grow market share,” said Keith Banks, Fleet Asset Management’s chief executive and the bank’s chief investment officer.
The bank acquired about 1,200 employees from Boston-based Liberty. “We will pick and choose but there won’t be a major consolidation,” said Brian Moynihan, FleetBoston’s executive vice president in charge of brokerage and wealth management.
FleetBoston, which announced the agreement in June, paid about $900 million in cash and assumed $110 million in debt to acquire some of America’s oldest money managers, including Boston-based Colonial Management Associates and Chicago’s Stein Roe & Farnham.
FleetBoston shares rose $1.04 to $33.90 and Liberty Financial shares rose 25 cents to $33.06.
