Phila. money manager sells a 70% stake

Cooke & Bieler, a Philadelphia money-management firm founded in 1949, is selling a 70 percent stake to Affiliated Managers Group Inc., of Boston.

The value of the deal, announced today, was not disclosed. Cooke & Bieler manages more than $9 billion in assets from its offices on the 1700 block of Market Street in Center City.

For Cooke & Bieler, the sale is a return to the fold of a large investment management firm. Six years ago, Cooke & Bieler management and an outside investor group bought the firm from Old Mutual P.L.C, a South African insurance company. Old Mutual had purchased its parent United Asset Management Corp. in 2000.

Kermit Eck, a member of Cooke & Bieler's management committee, said the sale to Affiliated Managers would help Cooke & Bieler transfer ownership to a younger generation of managers.

"We think it solved some transition issues. The name of the game is to try to convince people that it's not that big of an event," Eck said. Otherwise, clients might take their money elsewhere.

Four new management partners are among the 14 professionals who will own 30 percent of the firm, which is know for value investing.

Cooke & Bieler manages about $2 billion in mutual fund assets for Wells Fargo, but most of its business is with institutional clients, such as corporations, foundations, endowments, and pensions.

Including Cooke & Bieler, Affiliated Managers Group had $286 billion under management at the end of September. The company also owns Rorer Asset Management in Conshohocken.