Nicholas-Applegate to Sell Fund Unit

Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management said it’s selling its international fund unit to Australia’s Colonial First State Investments for $15.8 million as the firm sheds slow-growing businesses before a possible initial public offering in 2001. Melbourne-based Colonial First, one of Australia’s largest managers of international assets, said it agreed to buy Nicholas-Applegate’s 16 Dublin- and Singapore-based funds, which have more than $400 million in assets. San Diego-based Nicholas-Applegate paid about $33 million to purchase the funds from Paris-based Credit Lyonnais in 1997. Last week, Nicholas-Applegate agreed to sell 11 mutual funds to Pilgrim America Capital Corp. for about $22.5 million. Nicholas-Applegate is one of America’s biggest independent money managers with more than $30 billion of assets, mostly managed for institutional investors.