United Asset Management was an American holding company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
Background
The company was founded in 1980 as United Asset Management (UAM) by Norton Reamer, who previously had served as the CEO of Putnam Investments.[1][2] The company was the first major firm with a business model that consisted of purchasing a number of money management firms.[3]
UAM's strategy was to purchase a variety of investment management firms, and then keep a portion of the firms' profits. They allowed each company to operate autonomously and did not close poorly performing units. More than half of UAM's assets were retirement funds.[1] They used stock and cash to fund its acquisitions. They used First Boston as an investment bank