Churchill completes merger with Centre Pacific

Churchill Financial Holdings has announced  that it has completed the acquisition of L.A.-based Centre Pacific, a manager of CDOs and other fixed income funds, from Centre Partners. Centre Pacific currently has about $3.25 billion in assets under management. In connection with the purchase, Centre Pacific has been renamed Churchill Pacific Asset Management and will become the platform for Churchill Financial's growth in the fixed income asset management area.Churchill Pacific is led by Heather  Creeden and the management team at Churchill Pacific also includes Stephen Ahearn, director of research, as well as senior portfolio managers John Casparian and Kevin Hickam. The management team has worked together for over 15 years at Centre Pacific and, before that, at Transamerica Investment Services. Post merger, they will still manage substantially all of the CDO vehicles and mutual funds now being managed by Centre Pacific. In connection with the purchase, Centre Partners will become an investor in Churchill Financial.