Mellon Completes Unifi Acquisition

January 4, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Mellon Financial Corporation completed its acquisition of Unifi Network, a subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The acquisition, which was announced in November (see Mellon to Buy Unifi ) expands the reach of the group’s Buck Consultants and Mellon Employee Benefit Solutions (MEBS) businesses, and makes Mellon the fourth largest provider of human resources counsulting and outsourcing services, according to the firm.  Rumors of a deal between the two firms had circulated for months (see Mellon in Talks to Buy Unifi Network: Sources ) prior to the formal announcement.

Reunited

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

Significantly, the acquisition lays the groundwork for what is likely to be an even greater committment to the total benefits outsourcing business – reuniting MEBS President/CEO Jude Metcalfe with the capabilities of what had been consultant Kwasha Lipton, prior to its acquisition by PWC. 

Metcalfe, who headed up Fidelity’s retirement services business before joining Mellon, had previously been responsible for reorganizing Kwasha’s total benefits outsourcing business (see Fidelity Exec To Head Dreyfus, Buck Units ).  And industry insiders say Metcalfe is just the person to deliver on a renewed committment at Mellon.

Unifi, which had $351 million in revenue for the fiscal year ending June 2001, was created through the 1998 merger of Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse. Its HR outsourcing business, comprising 2,100 employees, has become part of MEBS, and its approximately 400-member HR consulting business has become part of Buck Consultants (see Mellon Merger Creates “New” Benefits Provider ).  

Most Funds Gain Ground in Q1: Morningstar

(PLANSPONSOR.com) - Most stock and bond fund categories gained ground in the first quarter, although the best performers probably weren't in your 401(k) menu.

According to mutual fund tracker Morningstar, the top performing fund group category was precious metals, which enjoyed a 35% gain (through March 27) in the midst of economic and market uncertainty.

That same uncertainty fueled a strong performance for oil-services stocks and natural-resources funds in the first quarter, a category that was up nearly 11%, making it the best-performing domestic-stock fund category in the quarter.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

Small Stuff

Small-cap value stocks continued their strong performance, rising 7.5% through March 22. Aside from the fact that smaller firms tend to flourish during economic recoveries, they also tend to have less complicated balance sheets – a real plus for investors in the post-Enron era, according to Morningstar.

Another category that seems to be benefiting from the prospects for an improved economy is real estate – a sector that was up 7.8% through March 22. 

On the other hand, technology and communications funds continued their slump, dropping another 10% and 18%, respectively.

Global Warming?

According to the report, every international equity fund category experienced an increase. Diversified emerging markets and pacific Asia/ex-Japan categories rose 14% and 12% respectively.

As for fixed income funds, emerging markets bond funds outperformed all fixed-income categories and gained 6% year to date.  Many funds in this category received a boost from strong performances in favored markets such as Mexico. Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund reforms helped a few markets, like Equador, and resilient oil prices lifted Russian and Nigerian bond markets.

However, international bond funds were at the bottom of the fixed income barrel.  In general, the more interest rate sensitive a government bond’s portfolio, the worse it performed during the quarter.  Long-term bond funds, such as Strong Corporate Bond (SCBDX) and Alliance Bond Corporate Bond (CBFBX), performed poorly, each dropping almost 3%.

«