PaineWebber Gets Outside Help With Its Broker-Sold Funds

PaineWebber is handing the reins of most of its struggling, broker-sold mutual funds over to steadier hands.

On Tuesday the brokerage announced plans to replace Mitchell Hutchins as manager of 19 of its 25 funds with several subadvisers, including big names like Alliance Capital, State Street Global Advisors, MFS and PIMCO.

The move is driven primarily by flagging performance. For instance, the firms' domestic stock funds, on average, have significantly trailed the S&P 500 in each of the last five calendar years, according to Morningstar. The firm's brokers appear to have found that kind of performance tough to pitch. In the first six months of this year, the firm's assets dropped 8.6%, according to Boston-based fund consultancy Financial Research.

The firm will continue to run six funds: (PWKAX Quote)PaineWebber Strategy, (PWTAX Quote)PaineWebber Tactical Allocation, (PREAX Quote)PaineWebber Financial Services Growth, (PSPIX Quote)PaineWebber S&P 500, PaineWebber Enhanced S&P 500 and (PWNAX Quote)PaineWebber Enhanced Nasdaq 100.

Of these six, four have been around since Jan. 1 and of those four only PaineWebber Tactical Allocation is beating its peers so far this year through Tuesday's close.

PaineWebber Strategy, the fund that tracks the picks of high-profile strategist Ed Kerschner, brought in a record $2.1 billion when it launched last year. This year, it's down 21.3%, trailing 99% of its large-cap growth peers.

PaineWebber was purchased by Swiss financial behemoth UBS in July.