AT THE BELL

Jack White will unwrap wraps

Brokerage Jack White & Co. plans to roll out a program that refers financial advisers to institutional money managers, much like one Charles Schwab Corp. introduced four months ago. Details surrounding the program are still being worked out, says Peter Mangan, executive vice president of institutional services at San Diego-based Jack White’s adviser branch, Waterhouse Institutional Services. But he confirms that participating money managers will accept accounts of $100,000 and charge clients fees of about 2%.

CPA group to link with brokers

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, ending an internal dispute, is exploring relationships with brokerages catering to CPAs. The organization is forming an investment advisory services program and will sponsor its first conference on the subject in May in San Francisco. It had been debating the matter since last summer (InvestmentNews, July 27). Some fear such affiliations might compromise objectivity, but supporters want help identifying reliable vendors as they enter the investment business.

Investors crack Brazil nut

Analysts are dancing a samba following the stock market’s rally last Friday when Brazil officials stopped artificially supporting their embattled currency. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 219.62 points Friday after four days of losses -including its biggest one-day plunge since Oct. 1 – on news that Brazil was devaluing the real. (The index closed at 9340.55, down 3.14% for the week.) Analysts aren’t surprised by the market resiliency, arguing that Brazil’s crisis doesn’t approach the level of recent turmoil in Asia and Russia. “I think the chance of a big trading debacle like what happened during the third quarter of 1997 is poor,” says David Berry, a bank analyst with Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc. “Banks have been aware that this was a possibility for a while, and they have been decreasing their risk to a level that is worth taking.” BankBoston Corp., Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan & Co., among the biggest lenders to Latin America, have pulled back in emerging markets and therefore are less likely to get hammered, he adds. “It’s reasonable to believe that Brazil’s issues will be contained to Latin America.” Meantime, J.P. Morgan emerging market analyst Jose Luis Daza even predicts that Latin America, which has been slumping, will recover after a weak first quarter.

McStay for sale

Dallas money manager John McStay Investment Counsel is on the block, sources report, and has hired Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. to shop it around. The 15-year-old company manages $4 billion, including $400 million in three mutual funds. The $384 million Brazos/JMIC Small Cap Growth Portfolio earned 13.6% last year, among the top 20% of such funds. In 1997 – the fund’s initial year – Small Cap Growth returned 54.5%, the fourth-highest increase among 245 similar funds, according to researcher Morningstar Inc. A spokesman for founder John McStay denied that its hiring of Merrill was solely to sell the firm, but acknowledged that the firm has held talks with companies that could assist in distributing its mutual funds. Based on recent deals, the money manager could fetch more than $100 million, sources say.

Alliance snares 4 managers

Alliance Capital Management LP has hired a four-member small-cap stock team headed by Mark J. Cunneen. He and the three other members lost their jobs this month following a reorganization of Invesco Funds Group’s institutional equity business in Denver. Mr. Cunneen arrived in New York last week; N. Kumar Kirpalanidi, Bruce K. Aronow and Samantha S. Lau are slated to arrive this week. Initially they will manage a new small-cap unit and oversee institutional money. The hirings come in the wake of Alliance’s loss of small-cap manager Michael Gaffney to Pimco Advisor Holdings Inc. of Newport Beach, Calif.

Roth proposes 401(k) Roths

Senate Finance Committee Chairman William Roth, R-Del., unveiled his plan to expand 401(k) employer-sponsored retirement plans. Like Roth individual retirement accounts, the new plans would allow savers over age 59? to withdraw funds already taxed, plus returns, taxfree. Maximum annual contributions would rise to $15,000 from $10,000 (workers over 49 could contribute $22,500) and employers could match up to $30,000. Income limits would be liberalized, and the contribution limit would rise to $5,000 from $2,000.

Etc.: Merrill hits half a tril

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., despite last year’s stumbling financial markets, eclipsed $500 billion under management. . .Mark McGannon, senior vice president and director of marketing at Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Van Kampen Investments Inc., quit last week to join Chicago bond fund rival John Nuveen Co. . .Boston’s Cypress Holding Co. has bought a majority of Global Alliance Value Investors Ltd., a $70 million institutional stock manager in Lafayette, Calif. . .Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp has named Thomas Plumb, 39, head of institutional financial services, including the $30 billion First American mutual funds. . .Neuberger Berman LLC has hired Catherine Waterworth, a managing director at Los Angeles’ TCW Group, to run $2 billion in limited maturity bond portfolios.