Eagle Funds advisor gets chance to reward executives and attract new talent. Top operational and investment personnel at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers will receive "substantial" equity incentives thanks to the acquisition by private-equity firm TA Associates of a minority interest in its corporate parent ASB Holdings.

Retention and attraction

"This is an important step in the evolution of our firm, and one [that] will permit us to continue to pursue our unique style of value investing," says John Arnhold, co-president and co-CEO of New York-based ASB Holdings. "The transaction will allow us to facilitate the retention and attraction of key associates."

Andrews McLane, senior managing director of TA Associates, says his firm is "pleased" to be associated with ASB Holdings and has "great confidence that this venerable firm with its long history of success serving the investment needs of both individuals and institutions in the U.S. and abroad will continue to flourish in the years ahead."

New world

Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers, investment advisor the First Eagle mutual-fund family as well as other institutional and high net worth investors, manages about $45 billion.

ASB Holdings has roots in a pair of German banks: Gebrueder Arnhold, founded in Dresden in 1864, and S. Bleichroeder, founded in Berlin in 1803. Bleichroeder made its name in the mid 1800s as the financial advisor of choice to the German government under Otto von Bismarck. After merging in 1931, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder moved its operational headquarters to New York in 1937. Since selling its investment-banking and global securities businesses in 2002, it has focused exclusively on managing assets.

TA Associates manages over $10 billion in capital from offices in Boston, Menlo Park, Calif., and London. -FWR

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