Boston-based Nvest LP agreed to acquire Kobrick Funds LLC, a Boston-based asset manager partly owned by Cendant Corp., for an undisclosed amount. According to the company the deal will close this summer.

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  An Nvest spokesperson said it signed the agreement late yesterday to purchase the Kobrick Funds, the manager of three mutual funds with about $200 million of assets. The agreement will require the funds' well-known manager, Fred Kobrick to remain as manager until at least 2005, according to the company.

"Fred Kobrick is a great money manager with a great track record wherever he's been," said the company spokesperson. "Nvest will give him the freedom to run his business with access to our resources to grow the assets of his funds."

After managing money for 25 years for State Street Research and Wellington Management, Fred formed Kobrick-Cendant Funds and Kobrick Capital Management in 1997 in a joint venture with Cendant Corp., but the Cendant name was dropped from the funds in reaction to the troubles in the top management of that firm in early 1999.

Peter Lynch, a high school classmate of Kobrick's, has said of his style of management, "Fred's style is not unlike the one I used when managing Magellan: He looks at turnarounds, cyclicals, asset plays, special situations-basically, he'll consider any company with good management and a history of doing something right."

Nvest has 17 affiliates with approximately $135 billion of assets. The company has bought four fund-management firms since early 1997, including Jurika & Voyles Inc., Daniel Breen & Co., Snyder Capital Management and H.A. Schupf & Co.  

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