Deal augments PFPC's information services to money managers and brokerages. PNC Financial Services Group has acquired Coates Analytics, a business-intelligence provider to investment-management firms and platform sponsors. The deal, sealed this past Friday, coincides with PNC's purchase of investment-data aggregator Albridge Solutions, which came to light early last month.

Both of PNC's latest buys are on their way to becoming part of PFPC, Pittsburgh-based PNC's custody, investment processing and mutual-fund transfer arm. And both additions are meant to strengthen PFPC's hand as a provider of information to investment-product manufacturers and distributors.

Triple play

"The acquisition of [Coates] continues to expand PFPC's delivery of information services to the global investment industry," says Timothy Shack, PFPC's chairman and CEO. "Along with the recent closing of our [Albridge] acquisition, PFPC will now serve as a centralized source of information with the unique ability to facilitate the flow of data both to and from financial advisors, broker-dealers and fund companies."

Todd Buck, Chadds Ford, Pa.-based Coates' head of sales, puts a similar idea more succinctly. "PFPC houses a ton of data, Albridge cleans up data and we analyze data," he says.

Coates takes product- and source-specific information from 10 big broker-dealers -- including Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, Wachovia Securities and Banc of America Investment Services -- and provides market data to about 40 asset-management and fund companies. The value of that, says Buck, is to help managers "direct their sales forces to where the opportunities are."

For example, an SMA wholesaler could use Coates web-based "Managed Money Dashboard" to determine how much any or all of his products a given branch of a brokerage happens to be moving -- and compare that information to data relating to the same products within the same territory or in other markets.

Sponsors -- who are looped in for free in exchange for providing the raw data -- benefit by getting secure, rationalized data on how the managers they sponsor are doing in particular markets, according to Buck.

Playing together

In addition to its Managed Money Dashboard, Coates provides a "Mutual Fund Dashboard" to help management teams and boards of directors keep up on matters relating to compliance and mutual-fund governance.

Thomas Sholes, head of PFPC's SMA business -- which includes back-office processing for managers as well as third-party investment-platform distribution to intermediaries -- says Coates, which has been up and running for about two years, has no significant rivals. "They provide unique data from major distributors [that helps managers] make decisions and take action."

Sholes sees Coates augmenting PFPC's role as a source for investment-product information in conjunction with AdvisorCentral, a clearing house for mutual-fund client and participating-fund information.

Similarly, says Sholes, Albridge's links to around 150 broker-dealers could give Coates scope to provide product data from independent and regional sponsors in addition to the big-name brokerages it works with now. -FWR

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