Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

According to a report in the Memphis Commercial Appeal today, seven former Regions Morgan Keegan investment funds have changed their names, and six have new trading symbols. The changes reflect the change in management from Regions Financial to Hyperion Brookfield Asset Management, which took over the troubled investment arm in July. Each fund name now starts with Helio, which is Hyperion’s brand name.

The Commercial Appeal quotes Marion Hayes, a spokesperson for Hyperion, as saying, “It’s not right for these funds to be named Regions Morgan Keegan funds when they’re managed by us.”

The change affects four closed-end funds and three open-end funds. Hyperion took over management of the Morgan Keegan investment arm from Regions after several funds suffered steep and sudden drops in value as a result of their connection to the subprime mortgage securities market.

Following is a list of the changes:

Former RMK funds:
Helios Advantage Income Fund: From RMA to HAV
Helios High Income Fund: From RMH to HIH
Helios Multi-Sector High Income Fund: From RHY to HMH
Helios Strategic Income Fund: From RSF to HSA

Former Regions-Morgan Keegan Select funds:
Helios Select High Income Fund: From MKHIX to HIFAX
Helios Select Intermediate Income Fund: From MKIBX to HSIBX
Helios Select Short Term Bond Fund: MSBIX, no change

Today The Birmingham (Ala.) News reported that Morgan Keegan & Co., the investment arm of Regions Financial Corp., has purchased an investment bank, Burke Capital Group, based in Atlanta. The sale price was not released. Regions Financial Corp. is based in Birmingham.

According to its company web site, Burke Capital Group is an independent investment banking firm that provides “superior corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions advisory services to financial institutions and middle market companies.” The company was founded in 1995. In 2006, the SNL Financial’s Bank M&A Scoreboard listed Burke at No. 1 among the Top Southeast regional financial advisers for the third quarter.

Regions Morgan Keegan has been staggering since late 2007 when it was revealed that a number of its investment funds that were presented as low-risk had actually been tied to the volatile subprime mortgage lending market. When the mortgage industry collapsed, investors found their portfolios devalued literally overnight, resulting in massive losses.

In August, Hyperion Brookfield, based in New York, NY, took over the management of three open-end funds and four closed-end funds that had been managed by Morgan Asset Managment, an arm of Morgan Keegan, which is based in Memphis. Morgan Asset Management is owned by Regions Financial Corp.

Chuck Jaffe, a senior columnist for MarketWatch, put Regions Morgan Keegan on his 13th annual Lump of Coal Awards list, which points out those companies and individuals who he believes should be on Santa’s “naughty” list in the world of investment funds. The list was published today on SFGate, an online publication of the San Francisco Chronicle.

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A combination of defaulted loans in the plunging housing market and unique woes with its Morgan Keegan & Co. investment arm caused shares of Regions Financial Corp. stock to plunge 73 percent in the past year, according to a report in The Birmingham News. The company is headquartered in Birmingham.

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Another class-action lawsuit related to issues regarding the disclosure of subprime debt obligations surfaced in early February when the law firm of Chitwood, Harley, Harnes LLP filed against certain mutual funds offered by Morgan Keegan Select Fund Inc.

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