BRESCIA (Italy), June 7: Northern Italian bank San Paolo di Brescia has signed a collaboration agreement with Smith Barney, part of the US Travelers Financial Services group, in the managed mutual funds sector.

The Brescia bank said Smith Barney will help its Capitalgest unit in the management of specialised international funds.

Next Monday Capitalgest will launch four new international funds, specialised in the US, Europe and Asia, along side the five funds Capitalgest already operates.

The minimum target for the new funds is to reach 300 billion lire of inflows by the end of this year.

Smith Barney is the second major US insurance group and currently manages $156 billion in the financial services sector.

CEO Bruce Sargent said the new alliance was very important. " The choice of this bank is due to its deep-rooted role in managed savings in a rich area like North Italy," he told a news conference.

Alberto Valdembri, San Paolo Brescia director general, noted the strength of its US partner which had 1996 total revenue of $21.3 billion and net profit of $2.33 billion.

Asked about the possibility of Smith Barney taking a stake in the Brescia bank, Valdembri said he did not exclude future developments.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.