MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
an InvestmentWires' Publication
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MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication |
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Monday, May 3, 1999 Odd Lots, May 3, 1999 Waterhouse IPO Set For July From The Wall Street Journal Waterhouse filed its S-1 for an IPO Friday and already there is talk over what the firm is going to buy with its shiny new money. Waterhouse plans to sell 10% of itself, a stake that may raise up to $1.5 billion. The WSJ speculates that Waterhouse may purchase other brokerages or content providers to build its business. The new capital would also provide assets for the firm's war chest in its battle for the advisor custody business with Schwab. For our past coverage on this story click here. Wraps in Canadian Sub From The Globe & Mail Waterhouse's parent is Canadian Toronto Dominion Bank. Its home town paper reports that TC has decided to fold Green Line Investor Services into the soon-to-be formed TD Waterhouse Securities Inc. "We want to have one global brand name and we want to be more recognizable than we have in the past, and leverage our advertising spent by having one brand name," Frank Petrilli, president of Waterhouse Investor Services and soon-to-be president and chief operating officer of TD Waterhouse, said. Profs Take on 12b-1 From Business Week Nikolaj Siggelkow, a Wharton assistant professor, claims that 12b-1 fees is reported as believing that these fees do nothing but enrich fund firms at the expense of their shareholders. "The claim that 12b-1 fees do not increase [total] expenses just does not seem to be true," he says. The prof looked at funds from 1992 to 1996. He found "The costs go up, and they stay up." "Any way you shake it, any way you slice and dice it -- using new funds, using old funds, using funds that switch [from no 12b-1 fee to charging a 12b-1 fee] -- that result always comes out to an almost a one-to-one relationship: You charge 20 basis points or 30 basis points in 12b-1 fees and, lo and behold, controlling for anything else, your expense ratio is 20 to 30 basis points higher." Business Week recommends that investors purchase funds with no 12b-1 fee. Buffett Finds Few Bargains From The Los Angeles Times The Oracle of Omaha can't uncover as many good values in the stock market as he would like. The day before Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting Warren Buffett explained that "We try to buy businesses at what we think are intelligent prices." However, "We find very, very few things that meet that test." Buffett also confirmed rumors that he is eyeing stocks in the United Kingdom, although he wouldn't name names. Turns to REITs From Smart Money Undoubtedly you have by now heard about Buffett's recent REIT purchases. The two: Tanger Factory Outlet (SKT) and Town & Country Trust (TCT) have each jumped on the news. Smart Money uses the news to provide ink to just about every REIT fund manager under the sun. Who's Behind Plain Speaking? From The Wall Street Journal "You can lose all your money." Blunt but honest. That's what those writing the new simplified prospectuses are seeking. The WSJ introduces some of those behind the effort, including William Lutz, a Rutgers University professor of English and former editor of the Quarterly Journal of Doublespeak, Nancy Smith and Josiah Fiske. Funds in the News Barron's interviews Karl Mills, a strategist with Jurika & Voyles. Smart Money takes its weekly look at the best and worst funds of the last five days. No surprise, hard asset funds trounced tech funds. Marla Brill in the Boston Globe profiles B. Anthony Weber manager of the Alleghany/Veredus Aggressive Growth fund. The Boston Herald carried an Associated Press report on the pros and cons of reopening closed funds. It also carried a look at the surprisingly strong performance of large funds. Fund Alarm reports May's manager changes. Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=24969 Copyright 1999, InvestmentWires, Inc. All Rights Reserved |