Van Kampen Investments, Inc. (also Van Kampen Funds, Inc. or Van Kampen American Capital) was an American mutual fund company. Formerly independent, it was acquired by

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

in 1996. Most of Morgan Stanley's asset management activities were principally conducted under the Morgan Stanley and Van Kampen brands. On October 19, 2009, Morgan Stanley announced that Van Kampen would be sold to

Invesco Invesco Ltd. is an American independent investment management company that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional branch offices in 20 countries. Its common stock is a constituent of the S&P 500 and trades on the New York stock exc ...

for $1.5 billion. After the acquisition, Invesco ceased using the Van Kampen name.

History

The company was established in 1974 by

Robert Van Kampen Robert D. Van Kampen (1938–1999) was an American businessman, who served as a member of various organizational boards in the business world and Christian ministry. Van Kampen's business career took him into the investment banking world, and he b ...

in Chicago. He developed a niche

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

product when he pioneered insurance coverage for tax-exempt bond funds. After New York City's near-default in 1975, investors flocked to Van Kampen's insured unit investment trusts. In 1982, the company broke records in the industry by introducing a $125 million Insured Municipal Income Trust (IMIT), soon followed by an even larger $128.5 IMIT. By 1983, the company now known as Van Kampen Merritt, Inc. had sold nearly $7 billion of trusts and was the nation's third-largest firm in that arena. In 1984, Van Kampen sold the firm to

Xerox Corporation Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Sta ...

for about $200 million. However, after eight years, in 1992 Xerox decided to shed all its financial-services units starting with Van Kampen. Xerox had initially planned to offer stock in Van Kampen to the public. However the investment firm

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is an American private equity company. It is one of the oldest private equity investment firms in the world. Founded in 1978, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in approximately 90 businesses, repre ...

made a better offer and bought 80% of Van Kampen from Xerox for approx $360 million. The remaining shares were held by Xerox and staff of the firm. In 1996

bought Van Kampen American Capital Inc from Clayton for $745 million to help it build its money management business. Morgan Stanley merged the business with its own money management business but continued to use the Van Kampen name. In 2009, Morgan Stanley announced that Van Kampen would be sold to

for $1.5 billion. Invesco later dissolved the Van Kampen funds' boards of directors, and eliminated the use of the Van Kampen name in funds in July 2012.

References

External links

Van Kampen Investments official site
Mutual funds of the United States American companies established in 1974 Financial services companies established in 1974 1984 mergers and acquisitions 1992 mergers and acquisitions 1996 mergers and acquisitions 2009 mergers and acquisitions {{US-finance-company-stub