FIRST UNION GIVES EVEREN HOME BASE AND TOP POST, LITTLE ELSE: BANK TO PUT WHEAT FIRST STAMP ON BROKERAGE BUY

First Union Corp. plans to move its retail brokerage headquarters to Chicago when the $1.1 billion deal for Everen Capital Corp. is done, but Southern accents will dominate the combined unit’s leadership.

James R. Boris, the 54-year-old chairman and chief executive of newly acquired Everen Capital of Chicago, is to take the reins of First Union Securities. According to an internal memo, though, all but one of the next seven top positions will be occupied by veterans of Wheat First Union of Richmond, Va., or First Union, which is based in Charlotte, N.C.

The unit will include Everen, Wheat First Union and First Union Brokerage Services.

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The Southern effect will be felt inside the firm and out. First Union has its Evergreen and Mentor funds to sell, which could mean Everen brokers, used to selling the wares of such top fund firms as Putnam, Aim and Kemper, may have to give more attention to in-house offerings.

Moreover, Wheat First aggressively focuses on underwriting and selling stocks, while Everen emphasizes municipal bond underwriting and trading.

For the most part, the job distribution is seen as a means to placate the three parts of what will be the country’s sixth-largest brokerage operation, with nearly 6,300 licensed retail securities personnel.

“That doesn’t seem to be out of balance,” says John Keefe, an industry analyst in New York. “There’s three constituencies to be represented.”

Still, Mr. Boris isn’t expected to stay long. A spokesman would only commit to “at least a year.” He might not need the job, since he and other Everen veterans stand to collect fat payouts because the Chicago firm is 60% employee-owned, and its value has shot up since it was spun off from Kemper Co. in 1995.

Stepping down to make way for Mr. Boris is Wheat First chief executive Marshall B. Wishnack, 52. He is to remain with the company through this year and stay on the payroll as a consultant through the end of 2000.

A Wheat First insider views the award of the top post to Mr. Boris as a means of easing the fears of Everen’s 1,839 brokers and other employees. “They want to reassure the Everen advisers as much as possible,” says the executive, who requests anonymity. “You want them to be reassured and going back to building revenue.”

Mr. Boris’ second-in-command is to be president and chief operating officer Dan Ludeman, currently chairman of Mentor Investment Group, Wheat First Union’s mutual fund subsidiary.

Mr. Ludeman is no stranger, because Everen bought a stake in Mentor three years ago. It traded it in March for a 5% stake in the $72 billion management venture First Union is forming by combining the Mentor and Evergreen funds.

Mr. Ludeman’s path is being cleared by the retirement of Everen president and chief operating officer Stephen McConahey, 56.

Getting a big boost is John Walters, an executive vice president who oversees products and services for Wheat First and is to do so for all of First Union Securities. “I don’t care how they slice it, he comes out ahead,” the Wheat First insider says.

Other executives will continue in jobs similar to the ones they hold now, such as First Union Brokerage Services Inc.president Dwight Moody, who will remain overseer of the bank branch-based brokerage.

The Everen acquisition, expected to close in the third quarter, would add offices from the Midwest to California to First Union’s East Coast stronghold. It also would boost the bank’s roster of licensed securities dealers by 42% to 6,259 and its customer base by 46% to 3 million. The combined company would have $152 billion under management.

Everen adds a stage in the Midwest for First Union’s own Evergreen group of mutual funds, which manage $56 billion, and the Mentor funds, which have $16 billion. And chairman Edward E. Crutchfield is behind on his schedule to manage $100 billion by 2000.