AT THE BELL

Chasing that merger bonus?

Chase Manhattan Corp. chairman Walter V. Shipley raked in $6.1 million in compensation last year, 8.5% more than in 1996, according to the company’s proxy. The compensation includes $1.7 million, a piece of a “merger-related” bonus totaling $5 million, that he started receiving in installments in 1996 after the merger with Chemical Banking Corp. created the nation’s largest bank. What Mr. Shipley stands to gain if Chase can pull off another major merger — the Financial Times reports the bank has been in talks with Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman Sachs & Co., Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan & Co. — is anybody’s guess.

Van Kampen manager leaves

Stock picker Stephen Boyd has left Van Kampen American Capital, the Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., mutual fund firm confirmed. In December, Travelers Group dropped Van Kampen as sub-adviser of the Common Sense Funds in favor of its own affiliate, Smith Barney Inc. Mr. Boyd had managed the Common Sense Growth Fund, which had $3.7 billion of assets in December. The fund has beem renamed Concert Investment Growth and has $4.3 billion in assets.

Freedom to change its mind

In a move that flies in the face of its long-held policy against investing overseas, Freedom Capital Management Corp.’s fund-of-funds division is planning to launch an international portfolio by May. The Boston-based firm’s FundManager Portfolios, which currently holds $220 million in assets in five portfolios, will introduce FundManager International, a fund of international equity funds. Among the funds Freedom is considering investing in are Tweedy Browne Global Value Fund, Janus Overseas Fund, Templeton Institutional Equity Fund, Bankers Trust International Equity Fund and Putnam International Equity Fund. Investment manager Michael Hirsch says demand for an international product prompted the turnabout. The fund will take advantage of such tools as currency hedging to reduce the volatility associated with international markets. The investment minimum will be
$1,000 initially and $250 subsequently.

Fund meld likely at megathrift

H.F. Ahmanson & Co.’s Griffin family of mutual funds appears likely to be melded into the Composite funds owned by Washington Mutual Inc. once the giant West Coast thrifts complete the merger announced last week. Combining the fund families will be subject later this year to a vote of Griffin’s board of trustees. Composite Research & Management Co., Washington Mutual’s mutual-fund arm, is expected this week to unveil a new name for its fund complex. Together, the Composite Funds and the Sierra funds — acquired last year along with Great Western Financial Corp. — hold nearly $5 billion. The Griffin funds would add another $900 million or so upon completion of Washington Mutual’s acquisition of Ahmanson, expected late in the third quarter. Composite, acquired in 1982 by Washington Mutual, is one of the oldest fund complexes in the country and runs its funds in-house. Sierra’s funds are subadvised, as are Ahmanson’s.

Convergent gets new angel

Money management consolidator Convergent Capital Management Inc. has amassed more than $25 million in its second capital-raising effort. Investors include insurer Conseco Inc., Amway Corp. co-founder Richard DeVos and other private investors. Allstate Corp., which originally backed the firm along with Mr. DeVos at its 1995 launch, has exited the venture, citing a desire to make larger, direct private equity investments. The Chicago-based holding company currently has equity interests in four investment firms with $3 billion under management.

Etc.: Towers Y2Kayos clients

New York consulting firm Towers Perrin is severing ties with some of its defined-contribution clients, rather than repair individually customized software infected with the year 2000 bug, sister publication Pensions & Investments reports — and some of its competitors might be doing the same thing. Spokesman Joe Conway says Towers Perrin decided that shedding “a small number” of clients became necessary because of the
prohibitive cost of repairing the software . . . James McCaughan has left as president of UBS Asset Management (New York) Inc., ahead of the closing of the merger between the parent Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corp. . . . The stock of likely merger target H.D. Vest Inc. traded like a bucking bronco last week. Shares of the Irving, Tex.-based brokerage jumped 32% to 9.125 on Monday, then fell almost 30% to 6.375 by Wednesday. It rebounded on Friday, when Vest announced it had reached $1 billion in client assets and $100 million in gross revenues, closing at 8.50. Vest is a pioneer in turning tax professionals, including certified public accountants, into financial advisers . . . The Dow Jones industrial average also soared Friday, gaining 103.38 points to close at 8906, up 303.89 for the week, a gain of 3.5%.