Funds Collide in Bank Merger

J.P. Morgan Chase's(JPM Quote) planned acquisition of Bank One(ONE Quote) will bring Morgan's $103.1 billion fund business and Bank One's $103.8 billion fund group under one roof. So what will it mean for the new company's fund operations?

There will undoubtedly be significant overlap among Morgan's 62 funds and Bank One's 49 funds, which will almost certainly lead to some fund mergers and foldings, says Don Cassidy, a senior research analyst with Lipper, a Reuters company. "They'll want to increase efficiencies and reduce costs for the advisers," Cassidy says. "But it will be a while before that happens."

Essentially, all the funds will be paired up to determine the amount of overlap. Then Morgan executives will debate which funds to fold into its counterpart, choose the management team for the fund and decide what name to give it. And while much of this has likely been talked about in general terms, "they're going to need to get people around a table to make some decisions," Cassidy says. "And that can take three months from the time the merger is approved." ...