Hours after a town hall meeting on Monday, Columbia Management president Mike Jones spoke to The MFWire about the just-concluded billion-dollar deal that sent Columbia's long-term asset management business to Ameriprise.

Columbia has placed ads in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and InvestmentNews, as well as in Columbia's hometown paper, The Boston Globe, and Ameriprise's hometown paper, The Star Tribune, trumpeting the close of the deal. Jones revealed that Columbia plans to advertise further during the fall.

Jones also revealed that in the next several months, Columbia plans to place employees working in the Boston area into a single building that has yet to be determined. Columbia's Beantown-area locations include three offices in downtown Boston and one in Cambridge.

Ameriprise's acquisition of Columbia Management's long-term asset management business was first announced last September and became complete on Saturday.

During the town hall meeting on Monday, Jones and Ameriprise Financial chairman and CEO Jim Cracchiolo were in Boston, while Ted Truscott, Ameriprise's CEO of US asset management, and Columbia chief investment officer Colin Moore were in Minneapolis.

"There was a live feed between Boston and Minneapolis," Jones narrated. "There were more than 2,500 people on the call."

The deal also includes a five-year strategic distribution agreement that provides Columbia with access to clients of Bank of America affiliates, including U.S. Trust.

So how does Columbia intend to incentivize Merrill Lynch FAs to sell its funds?

"We plan to continue to build on existing relationships," Jones said, declining to comment further.

Columbia, as previously reported, will be the master asset management brand in the U.S. The Threadneedle brand will no longer be used for U.S. retail funds. Acorn and Seligman funds will retain their brands.  

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE