News In Brief

By next October, $453 billion in combined assets will be managed by a new partnership between Japan's Daiwa Bank and Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., the two institutions announced. The trust venture, which will be the largest of its type in Japan, is the second to be launched in consecutive weeks as major realigning of the financial sector proceeds under loosened government regulations. Last week, Nippon Life Insurance Co. and Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp. agreed to an alliance that will manage corporate pension-fund assets.

Paging Network is merging with Arch Communications Group to create one of the world's largest wireless-communications firms, officials said. The new company will keep the Arch name and headquarters in Westboro, Mass. Dallas-based PageNet lost $162 million last year while positioning itself as a wireless information provider, not just a paging service.

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