At the Bell

Lehman is looking to buy a broker

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a year after its acquisition of SG Cowen, is looking to do another deal, says Edward Feigeles, a managing director and head of the firm’s private-client group. Lehman is not likely to buy another firm this summer.

But he says it is looking at targets, including some in Europe. It’s targeting firms with 50 to 300 brokers. “We’re in the acquiring mode,” he says.

It’s also looking to open offices in Denver and Washington this year, he says. And the firm is considering building a trust business in its bank, he says. It currently uses Wilmington (Del.) Trust Co.

Dreyfus recruiting Transamerica team?

Dreyfus Corp., the Boston mutual fund manager, is in talks to recruit a team of growth-stock fund managers from Transamerica Investment Management LLC of San Francisco, according to a source.

Jeff Van Harte, a Transamerica Investments senior vice president and head of equity investments, declined to comment. A Dreyfus spokesman confirmed the New York company plans to expand its growth fund offerings, but declined to comment further.

Transamerica Investment, which is 80% owned by Dutch insurer Aegon N.V., manages three growth funds with a combined $468 million in assets, according to Morningstar Inc. Dreyfus is a unit of Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial Corp.

House panel to mull analyst conflicts

A House Financial Services subcommittee will tackle the issue of analyst independence at a hearing Thursday morning.

The subcommittee on capital markets, headed by Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., plans to explore the potential conflicts of interest – such as whether their firms’ investment bankers influence the stock recommendations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has said that skepticism about recommendations may be sabotaging public confidence in the markets.

Pension advice bill being reintroduced

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, plans to reintroduce this week the Retirement Security Advice Act.

The bill, which Mr. Boehner, the House Education and the Workforce Committee chairman, introduced last year, would allow employers and investment advisers to advise workers on investments in defined-contribution pension plans.

Hearings and action by the committee are expected soon, according to a committee spokesman, Dave Schnittger. Mr. Boehner hopes that the bill will undergo a House vote before the end of July.

The financial advisory industry has called for the legislation, citing studies that show most 401(k) plan participants want specific advice about how to invest their money, not just the kind of general education usually provided.

Advisers argue that Department of Labor regulations put employers at risk if they provide more-specific investment advice.

Bush picks woman as a Fed governor

Susan Schmidt Bies, a First Tennessee National Corp. executive in charge of risk management, was selected by President Bush on Friday to serve on the otherwise all-male seven-member Federal Reserve Board.

If confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Bies will bring a bank perspective to the Fed, which it has been missing for several years, observers say.

“She’s energetic, smart, inquisitive and outspoken,” says Donald Ogilvie, executive vice president of the American Bankers Association.

Principal files $1.98 billion IPO

Principal Mutual Holding Co. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $1.98 billion through the sale of 109.5 million shares. The Des Moines, Iowa, insurer also plans to offer 260.5 million shares to policyholders in its conversion into a stock company.