June 10, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Threadneedle Asset
Management, part of the Zurich Financial Services Group has
acquired a 29.9% stake in Attica AM, a
multi-manager.
The deal strengthens Attica’s distribution network and
enables Threadneedle to enter the manager-of-managers
field, an increasingly popular investment approach in the
UK and Europe.
Attica received approval for its funds at the close of
2000. It runs an institutional division and an alternative
products division.
The group recently signed a deal with Mercer Investment
Consulting that offers smaller UK pension funds a
combination of consulting and asset-management
services.
Its alternatives division recently entered a joint
venture with LJH Global Investments to offer hedge funds to
institutional investors and high net worth individuals.
To date the manager has invested £100 million and has
commitments of almost £250 million, according to a report
by IPE-newsline.
May 10, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Canadian public
employees pension fund has taken Ford Canada to court over
allegations the carmaker underpaid the fund by about C$200
million for its Ford stock holdings.
The action by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement
System (OMERS), a C$33.7 billion (US$21.5 billion) fund, is
based on a claim that Ford stock was worth much more than
the C$185 a share the Ford parent paid for the 6% it did
not own.
In 1995, when Ford made the purchases, the stock was
worth C$480 to C$520 a share. “Our case is that they were
paid substantially less than fair value,” said OMERS’
lawyer Frank Newbould.
OMERS president Dale Richmond said the dynamics of
Canada’s car industry changed in 1988 with the passage of a
free-trade agreement and the trend for carmakers like Ford
to integrate their operations internationally.
In the 1990s a number of US auto companies including
Ford began buying back shares from Canadian minority
shareholders. Richmond claimed many of the carmakers
offered low-ball prices and “we took great exception to
it,” he said.
Profits Drained?
A key issue during court proceedings, which began last
week, was the extent to which Ford US drained profits from
Ford Canada. OMERS claimed nearly two-thirds of Ford
Canada’s C$16.9 billion in sales in 1994 was to its US
parent and that Ford US sold US-made cars and parts to the
Canada operation for about the same amount.
The prices paid for those cars and parts effectively
flowed profits out of Canada and, in turn, reduced the
value of the Canadian operation, OMERS alleged.
John Arnone, Ford spokesman, said the company believes
the judge will back the independent assessment at the time
that the buyout price was fair and reasonable.
That opinion, rendered by Wood Gundy, the brokerage arm
of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said it took
Ford’s word that the in-house prices for the cars and parts
were close to open-market sales.
A decision is not expected in the case until late 2002
or early 2003.