Progress Investment Buys Out Firm from Columbia

April 5, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Days after the merger of FleetBoston Financial and Bank of America, the senior management team at Progress Investment Management Company worked out a deal to buy the firm from FleetBoston's investment management arm.

Terms of the deal with Columbia Management Group were not disclosed, according to a news release from the San Francisco-based Progress. Progress was acquired in 1998 by Liberty Financial, and later became part of Columbia Management Group when the asset management businesses of Liberty Financial were acquired in 2001.

“We are, naturally, quite excited and pleased that we were able to take advantage of an opportunity to buy Progress and regain our fully independent status,” Thurman White, President of Progress, said in the news release.   “Our team has finally accomplished a long-sought goal: to reclaim our legacy as the original minority employee-owned manager of emerging managers, a legacy that we fully intend to build upon going forward.” Founded in 1990, Progress creates risk-controlled multi-manager investment funds in a variety of asset classes for institu tional clients, according to the announcement.

Currently, Progress funds 59 emerging managers in 11 multi-manager investment strategies, and 11 partnership funds in a private equity fund-of-funds strategy.   Progress uses investment strategies encompassing domestic equities, across all styles and capitalization ranges, domestic fixed income, international equity and alternative investments, principally private equity.   Progress has $3.8 billion under management.

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