Deals & People March 29, 2009

Wachovia Securities Changes Recruiting Terms

Wachovia Securities has changed its recruiting deal for financial advisers so that it will now base payouts on an adviser’s last three months’ production instead of the traditional 12 months, according to published reports.
Reported by

The change was made at the company, a unit of Wells Fargo & Co. (see “Wachovia Leaves Citigroup at the Altar’), in order to get a more accurate reading of brokers’ production based on current market conditions, according to Dow Jones.

A report by Registered Rep said Wells Fargo is taking that three-month trailing production figure and multiplying it by four to get revised trailing 12-month number. The report noted that if that revised figure is not 85% of the rep’s actual trailing 12, then the bonus will be based on the revised figure and not the actual trailing 12 but if the revised figure is at least 85% of the actual trailing 12-month production, then the rep gets a “normal’ deal.

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

Deals & People March 29, 2009

Barclays to Wrap Up iShares Bidding

Private equity consortiums pursuing Barclays' iShares investment unit have until Sunday to submit binding bids, unnamed sources told Reuters.
Reported by

According to Reuters, a source indicated that a consortium, including San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman and London headquartered Apax Partners, plans to submit a bid of around $5 billion. The Hellman & Friedman-led consortium entered into talks for iShares before other parties, the sources said, and is seen as a frontrunner by others, despite a recent widening of interest in the company.

Analysts and media reports have variously put the value of iShares — the index-tracking investment arm of Barclays Global Investors — at between $4.3 billion to $7.2 billion.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

A deal could be concluded next week, before the Tuesday deadline to join the British government-backed scheme designed to protect bank assets against potential future losses, according to Reuters.

Barclays said it does not need to raise any fresh capital after Britain’s Financial Services Authority subjected the bank’s finances to “a detailed stress test”.

Fund company The Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs are also pursuing iShares, according to media reports.

«