NYTimes.com Article: Wells Fargo Buying Strong Assets

The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by jellings(a)me.umn.edu. /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ THE CLEARING - IN THEATERS JULY 2 - WATCH THE TRAILER NOW An official selection of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, THE CLEARING stars ROBERT REDFORD and HELEN MIRREN as Wayne and Eileen Hayes - a husband and wife living the American Dream. Together they've raised two children and struggled to build a successful business from the ground up. But there have been sacrifices along the way. When Wayne is kidnapped by an ordinary man, Arnold Mack (WILLEM DAFOE), and held for ransom in a remote forest, the couple's world is turned inside out. Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/theclearing/index_nyt.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Wells Fargo Buying Strong Assets May 26, 2004 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:25 a.m. ET MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. (AP) -- Wells Fargo & Co. is buying all the assets of Strong Financial, whose founder and principal owner was banned from the industry because of his personal involvement in a trading scandal. Terms for the sale of Strong's $34 billion in assets under management, announced Wednesday morning, were not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the transaction could be worth as much as $700 million. The move came six days after Strong Financial and founder and former CEO Richard Strong agreed to a combined $175 million penalty to settle regulators' allegations of improper trading at the expense of other shareholders. Wells Fargo and Strong Financial had been rumored to be in talks for months, and the settlement had cleared the way for a sale. The settlement did not prohibit Richard Strong, who owns 85 percent of the privately-held company, from benefiting from the sale. The deal announced Wednesday does not include any legal entities of Strong Financial, which is based in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, the companies said. Wells Fargo will gain $27 billion in assets in 70 mutual funds. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo's total assets under management would grow to $217 billion. Mutual fund assets would climb to $103 billion, ranking among the top 20 mutual fund companies in the U.S., Wells Fargo said. ``This is a great strategic fit of investment talent, resources, well-established investment management products and new distribution channels,'' said Mike Niedermeyer, head of Wells Fargo's investment management business. ``The purchase will provide significant benefits for both companies and their clients.'' The agreement calls for the key investment teams of Strong Financial to join Wells Capital Management, a Wells Fargo subsidiary, but it was unclear if that meant all 1,125 of Strong Financial's employees would keep their jobs. Wells Fargo, which also provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance services and has $397 billion in total assets, has 143,000 employees. ``We're excited about joining a highly respected partner who understands and shares our commitment to an autonomous investment culture,'' said Richard Weiss, Strong's director and head of its investment department. In morning trading Wednesday, Wells Fargo shares fell 15 cents to $58.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. Richard Strong is the highest level executive so far to admit his role in what has become an industrywide scandal for the mutual fund business. The company he founded, which was fined $115 million for allowing the improper trades, put itself up for sale shortly after regulators went public last year with allegations against Richard Strong. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year. It is subject to approval by the Strong Funds Board of Directors, its fund shareholders, shareholders of Strong Financial Corp. and Wells Fargo Funds Board of Trustees. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Wells-Fargo-Strong.html?ex=1086… --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&a… HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales(a)nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help(a)nytimes.com. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company