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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Composite Group Adding Staff Merger Of Mutual Fund Portfolios Creates 23 New Jobs Here

The Composite Group of Funds will add 23 jobs in Spokane as its parent, Washington Mutual Bank, and newly acquired Great Western Bank merge their mutual fund portfolios.

Composite President Bill Papesh said the new jobs will include administrative, accounting and customer service positions.

The workers will be accommodated on the second and third floors of the Washington Mutual Building, he said. The hires will bring total Composite staffing in Spokane to 89.

Papesh said more jobs also will be added in Seattle, where Composite’s asset managers are based.

The merger will combine Composite’s eight funds and three variable annuities with 22 funds and 13 variable annuities owned by Sierra Funds.

The result will be 36 different funds and annuities with nearly $5 billion in assets and 300,000 shareholders. Two-thirds of the assets and shareholders are Sierra’s.

But Papesh said Sierra contracted with other companies for administration, asset management and customer service. Composite handles all those in-house and, he said, as well or better than Sierra’s contractors.

“All they were was facilitators,” Papesh said. “It’s a great concept, but you can’t make any money at it.”

Six Sierra funds will be merged into five Composite funds and two other Sierra funds will be combined, he said. Composite will manage most of the funds on its own, but subadvsiers will be retained for seven.

The group will likely be renamed in conjunction with a new marketing push, Papesh said.

Proxy statements have been mailed to shareholders in both groups, he said, with returns due by Dec. 23. The consolidation should take place in January.

Papesh said the dedication of the Spokane work force was one of the factors that convinced Sierra’s board of directors to recommend transfer of their funds to Composite despite its smaller size.

Average worker tenure is eight years, he noted. “You just don’t find that kind of thing in the mutual fund industry.”

Sierra itself is only eight years old, compared with 58 years for Composite and its predecessors.

Still, Papesh said, Composite will have to prove itself with representatives who will be selling the combined fund group in 750 Washington Mutual and Great Western branches.

“We’re a new person in their world,” he said. “We’ve got some wood to chop.”

, DataTimes